info@baseball.ca  (613) 748-5606

News

Image

Three Canadians at the Asian Olympic Qualifier

OTTAWA, ON – Three Canadians will work as officials at the Asian Olympic Qualifier which goes from December 1-3 in Taiwan.

The qualifier will determine whether Japan, Korea, Chinese Taipei or Thailand will qualify for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Tom Valcke, from St. Mary’s, ON and the President of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, will be heading the technical commission.  André Lachance, Manager of Baseball Operations at Baseball Canada and Québec native will be a technical commissioner.  René Provencher of Sherbrooke, QC made the trip as one of the tournament umpires.

For Provencher, this will be his first international tournament at the senior level.  He was an umpire at the 2002 World Junior Baseball Championships in Sherbrooke, but just missed on senior international competitions on two previous occasions.  He was a substitute in 2006 for the World Baseball Classic and was let go from the list of umpires at the 2007 Pan-Am Games in Rio de Janeiro because Canada did not submit a team.

“I’m ready to take on a new level of play and I welcome the entire experience,” says Provencher.  “I think this will certainly be interesting.”

The winner of the tournament will represent Asia at the 2008 Olympics, while the second and third place finishers will join Canada along with Australia, South Africa, Mexico, Spain and England, and compete for three spots in the Olympic tournament at the last chance Olympic qualifier, which will take place from March 7-15 in Taiwan.


Partners