The Australian women’s softball team have discovered the path they’ll need to take to earn qualification for next year’s Tokyo Olympic Games after the World Baseball Softball Confederation released the Asia/Oceania Qualifying draw.
The Aussie Spirit were placed in Group B alongside Chinese Taipei, Indonesia and Hong Kong for the qualification tournament to be hosted in Shanghai, China from September 24-28.
The round robin matches will see the top two nations progress to a super round, where they’ll be joined by the top two nations from Group A in a four-nation battle for one qualification spot.
Teams that progress to the super round, will have their result from the round robin stage against their fellow group co-qualifiers counted and carried over. Following cross-over matches against the other group teams, the top ranked nation will then earn qualification for the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Group A will see China face Korea, Philippines and New Zealand.
The Spirit will need to be at their very best to earn selection, with the seventh ranked Aussies matching up against the highest ranked team in Chinese Taipei (World Number 6).
With Indonesia (37) and Hong Kong (42) not expected to mount a serious challenge, the match between Australia and Chinese Taipei will prove crucial.
A carried over win will see either nation progress as top seed against the talent in Group A, which features three strong ranked nations in; China (World Number 8), Philippines (World Number 13) and New Zealand (World Number 11).
