Taiwan, the defending champions of the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier12 tournament, have secured a spot in next year's edition following the release of the latest official world rankings.
Taiwan ranked second in the standings updated by the WBSC on Wednesday.
Photo: CNA
They had 5,112 points, second only to Japan (6,676 points) and followed by the US, South Korea and Venezuela.
The top 12 countries or regions on the year-end list earn direct eligibility for next year's tournament.
Ranking sixth through 12th were Mexico, Puerto Rico, Panama, the Netherlands, Cuba, Australia and the Dominican Republic.
The order of the top 12 remained largely unchanged from the previous November update, with the exception of the Netherlands and Cuba swapping positions.
World ranking points are calculated based on a country or region's performances in tournaments over the past four years across all levels of competition.
Taiwan's 2024 Premier12 title marked the nation's first major senior-level international championship.
The latest rankings were released just one day after the WBSC announced that its quadrennial flagship tournament would expand from 12 teams to 16 for the first time next year.
Teams ranked 13th to 18th, along with two wild cards, are to vie for the four additional berths through two qualification tournaments.
The first qualification tournament of four teams competing for two spots in the Premier12 would be held at the International Baseball and Softball Center in China's Guangdong Province from Nov. 26 to 29, the WBSC said.
The WBSC said it would announce details regarding the second qualification tournament at a later date.
According to the year-end rankings, teams eligible for the qualifiers include Colombia (13th), followed by Italy, the Czech Republic, Nicaragua, China and Germany.
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