The news provides a significant boost for the sport’s campaign to be reinstated onto the Olympic Programme in 2016.
ISF President, Don Porter, said: "This is wonderful but not unexpected news that confirms that softball is an immensely popular Olympic sport. It means that tens of thousands of people in China and from all around the world have chosen softball as their Olympic sport of choice. They will be joined by hundreds of millions of worldwide television viewers who cannot travel to Beijing. We anticipate strong following from all 130 countries that are officially part of the global softball family.
“As a result, we're optimistic that the IOC will take notice of the universal appeal of softball and vote in (October) 2009 to reinstate our sport to the 2016 Games," the ISF president continued. "Our Back Softball progress report that we recently issued shows that our sport has made great strides globally over the last couple years, and these sellout crowds in Beijing and the exciting games that will be played in front of them on that field in China are further testimony to why softball is a great asset to the Olympic Movement".
Eight teams will compete in the softball competition in Beijing from August 12 – 21 2008.
