Cuba win crucial clash against Venezuela; First team through to Super Round

Title holders Cuba maintained their imperial form on day two of the WBSC Baseball5 World Cup 2024 at the Central Harbourfront Event Space in Hong Kong, China, collecting two more wins to remain unbeaten and clinch a spot in the Super Round.

Cuba beat Hong Kong with style 15-0, 12-0 in the afternoon before winning a thriller in the evening clash against archrivals Venezuela 5-4, 3-2 on Tuesday to remain unbeaten with four wins from four games at the top of Group A.

For the first time in WBSC Baseball5 World Cup history, Cuba trailed in a game - in both sets this time - before 2022 MVP Briandy worked his magic to snatch victory for the world No. 2 in the last play of the game.

In Group B, defending silver medallists Japan are also unbeaten with three wins from three, taking a significant step towards the Super Round but with 10 games still to play during the final day of the Opening Round on Wednesday, Mexico, France and Tunisia still remain in contention.

Spectacular Opening Ceremony on the first day of competition

Defending champions Cuba led Pool A with two wins from as many games after the first day with France and Mexico unbeaten in Group B.

This is the second edition of the WBSC Baseball5 World Cup after Mexico City 2022

Cuba are the defending champions, with Japan having finished second and Chinese Taipei third

There are 10 teams returning from Mexico 2022. Australia and China have replaced Kenya and Korea

This the the first time a WBSC World Cup is staged in Hong Kong, China

Hosts Hong Kong finished 12th in Mexico two years ago

The next edition of the WBSC Baseball5 World Cup will take place in Italy in 2026.

The next WBSC Youth Baseball5 World Cup will take place in Mexico in 2025.

The number of teams participating in the next editions of the WBSC Baseball5 World Cup and WBSC Youth Baseball5 World Cup will increase from 12 to 16 teams.

Baseball5 will also feature at the Youth Olympic Games Dakar 2026

One of the key games during the day in Pool B saw European vice-champions France take on Japan and they didn't disappoint with a 4-1, 4-6, 4-3 win to the 2022 runner's up.

During the game, the tallest player in the competition Omar iodene Pacheco ran into one of the shortest in Ayako Rokkaku at second base with a collective gasp from the crowd. Rokkaku left the field for treatment but fortunately the 2022 MVP returned later in the game having recovered.

"This is an international tournament and things like this happen. I'm ok, no major issues. Omar and I are friends so no hard feelings," Rokkaku said.

Omar, who is 1.95m tall, added: "It just happened in an instant during a high intensity game, with the pressure of the game, the atmosphere. Ayako is a friend of mine and there were no bad intentions."

In other key news, debutants China claimed their first win in a WBSC Baseball5 World Cup with a 11-1, 14-0 win over Australia with star hitter Dingliu Yao saying: "It’s a great honour for the Chinese team to come to the Baseball5 World Cup and play against all these other teams and learn as much as possible during the tournament,"

Later in the day, China lost 15-3, 3-2 against Japan. Yao added: "Japan had excellent defence but for us we had confidence to win but in the first, we hope to win more games. In our heart our level is also very good."

After claiming an opening game win on Monday, hosts Hong Kong, China found the going tougher on day two with two heavy defeats at the hands of the 2022 bronze and gold medalists - Chinese Taipei and Cuba - respectively.

"It was a great honour and pleasure to play the game [last night] and get the first win in the opening game in front of a great crowd," Hong Kong's Hoi Ting Cheng, who took a stunning catch during the game, said. "The whole team was lifted by the excellent support, hearing the crowd supporting Hong Kong gave us a great boost. My heart was pumping.
"Before today's two games against Chinese Taipei and Cuba, we knew they were tough matches. It wasn’t easy. We’re try to challenge ourselves during the remaining games and improve."