Chinese Taipei returns to top of WBSC/KONAMI Baseball5 World Ranking
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<p>Chinese Taipei (3,298 points) returned to the top of the <a href="https://www.wbsc.org/en/rankings/baseball5-coed">WBSC/KONAMI Baseball5 World Ranking</a>, moving up one spot from second place after finishing behind winners Japan at the <a href="https://www.wbsc.org/en/news/japan-chinese-taipei-and-china-qualify-for-baseball5-world-cup">WBSC Asia Baseball5 World Cup Qualifier</a> in April. The Chinese Taipei programme succeeds France (2,362), which is now No. 4, having not played since November last year.</p>
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<p>It's the second time Chinese Taipei has reached the top of the WBSC/KONAMI Baseball5 World Ranking. After Cuba held top spot in the inaugural Baseball5 World Ranking on 12 January 2023, Chinese Taipei moved to No. 1 on 22 August and kept that position before France became the first ever European nation to hold the top spot in a WBSC/KONAMI World Ranking on 16 November last year.</p>
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<p>Meanwhile, Tunisia (2,535) reached its highest ever ranking, and the highest of any African nation in a WBSC/KONAMI World Ranking, by climbing two positions and is the new No.2, ahead of Cuba (2,393), who stays in third place. No. 5 Japan (2,314) also gained one position.</p>
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<p>Tunisia won the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="WBSC Africa Baseball5 World Cup Qualifier (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.wbsc.org/en/news/tunisia-win-baseball5-african-championship-qualify-for-ii-wbsc-baseball5-world-cup-with-runner-up-south-africa" target="_blank">WBSC Africa Baseball5 World Cup Qualifier</a> while runner-up South Africa, at No. 6 with 1,593 points, is the other programme representing Africa in the top 10. </p>
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<p>No. 9 China is the most improved programme among those ranking places 1-10, gaining six positions.</p>
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<p>The Baseball5 World Rankings include 48 programmes covering the five Olympic continents.</p>
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<p>The Baseball5 update is the first since an updated version of the WBSC/KONAMI World Rankings web pages.</p>
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<p>The new portal allows easy access to the ranking data for single continents or the world. Visitors can navigate the pages through the horizontal menu, choosing the discipline (Baseball, Softball of Baseball5) and gender (Men's or Women's; Baseball5 is the only COED discipline).</p>
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<p>The new portal allows viewing a national programme's year trend, including the year points. It is an easy way to evaluate a country's performance in the current year or any given year. </p>
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<p>The new portal also offers a historical perspective, allowing visitors to visualize different ranking dates.</p>
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