ZHONGSHAN, China – The IX Baseball Federation of Asia (BFA) U-12 Championship is set to open tomorrow across two venues — Panada and Dongshen stadiums.

The 20-game continental youth championship in Zhongshan, which runs from 9-13 December, will serve as a qualifier for the IV WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup® 2017 in Tainan, Taiwan.

Eight nations — world No. 1 Japan, No. 3 Korea, No. 4 Chinese Taipei, No. 18 China, No. 25 Pakistan, No. 26 Hong Kong, No. 37 Philippines and No. 48 Indonesia — will compete for the Asian title in Zhongshan, with the top three advancing to the U-12 Baseball World Cup next July. The National Teams will also be earning WBSC World Ranking points based on the final results of the official qualifier.

Day 1

China v Indonesia Japan v Philippines Chinese Taipei v Hong Kong Korea v Pakistan

(View full schedule)

Defending champion Chinese Taipei has won the Asia U-12 championship a leading six times.

In other continental qualifiers around the globe, Germany and the Czech Republic advanced out of Europe, while Mexico, United States, Nicaragua and Brazil earned the right to represent the Americas in the 12-nation U-12 world championship next July.