Jr Blu Girls, Taiwanese clash in Asian Softball opener

The Philippine Blu Girls face an uphill battle in the XVI WBSC Women’s World Softball Championship in Chiba, Japan as they found themselves groupmates with five of the Top 10 countries led by defending champion and top-ranked USA in the Aug. 2-12 Olympic-qualifying meet.

The 15th-ranked Pinay softbelles got bunched in Group A with the powerhouse Americans, No. 5 Chinese Taipei, No. 6 Puerto Rico, No. 7 Mexico, and No. 8 The Netherlands as well as No. 11 New Zealand and No. 35 South Africa in the groupings released by the World Baseball Softball Confederation the other day.

In Group B are host and second-ranked Japan, No. 3 Canada, No. 4 Australia, No. 9 Italy, No. 12 China, No. 16 Great Britain, No. 17 Venezuela and No. 33 Botswana.

The tourney stakes one ticket to softball’s return to the Olympiad in 2020.