The Women’s Softball World Cup trophy touched down in Redcliffe on Tuesday, with both softball and baseball hoping next April’s tournament will help them secure a place at Brisbane 2032.
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them → touch → Brisbane
The diamond sports have been engaged in a desperate years-long campaign to be included in the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which has led Logan Mayor Jon Raven to push for a privately funded, purpose-built stadium on his city’s Griffith University campus.
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which → engage → campus
A pre-feasibility study into that proposed venue will go to Logan City Council on Wednesday.
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study → propose → Wednesday
Speaking at the 2027 Women’s Softball World Cup venue, Redcliffe’s Kayo Stadium, on Tuesday, Queensland Sports Minister Tim Mander – a member of the Brisbane 2032 organising committee – said the Logan proposal was not yet part of their thinking.
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proposal → speak → thinking
“The Logan suggestion is probably just that at the moment,” he said.
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he → say → moment
“We really haven’t seen any details about that, and I know that they also have a very enthusiastic mayor …
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they → see → mayor
With the Gabba expected to host cricket, and the Brisbane Showgrounds ruled out – despite its $287.5 million upgrade – due to the security overlay for the adjacent athletes’ village, there were few obvious contenders to host the sports.
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Showgrounds → expect → sports
And while it was large enough to host softball, Kayo Stadium’s pitch was too small to fit a baseball field.
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pitch → host → field
But Mander revealed an alternative venue had been identified.
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venue → reveal → ?
“Part of the presentations that all the different sports make [is to] tell us how they can do it in a way that’s cost-effective and can provide the temporary infrastructure that’s required as well,” he said.
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he → make → infrastructure
“These guys here [softball and baseball representatives] are well advanced with regards to their submissions to Brisbane 2032, and now it’s really just a matter of waiting.”
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it → advance → Brisbane
The Brisbane Bandits played at the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre, then called ANZ Stadium, during the 1990s in the Australian Baseball League, but that was during the Brisbane Broncos’ tenure, when the running track had been removed.
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track → play → tenure
Baseball Australia chief executive Glenn Williams declined to shed any more light on the alternative venue to which Mander referred.
“We feel comfortable that we’ve got a few different solutions that we can take back to OCOG [the Organising Committee for the Olympic Games] for consideration,” he said.
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he → decline → consideration
Williams said it was vital for the sports to be included in 2032.
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sports → say → 2032
“Beijing was the last time it [baseball] was included as a permanent sport, and then it was off for London, off for Rio, back on for Tokyo, off for Paris, on again for LA and, now, uncertain around Brisbane,” he said.
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he → include → Brisbane
“It makes it challenging to plan, but obviously the Olympics is the pinnacle for every sport when the national team plays, and we’d love to be on there and be planning for it.”
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we → make → it
Softball Australia chief executive Sarah Loh said the 2027 world cup, to be held at the Dolphins’ Kayo Stadium in April, would only add to the diamond sports’ case for 2032 inclusion.
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cup → say → inclusion
“This holds baseball and softball in very good stead to be there [in 2032],” she said.
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she → hold → 2032
“It’s the first test event in the ‘green and gold runway’ to Brisbane ’32, and I know Brisbane Airport are looking at us, and the government and the OCOG are looking at us, as the first major test event next year to lead into Brisbane.”
Australian national team player Tamieka Whitefield said, in the meantime, she was excited by the prospect of playing in front of a big home crowd at Kayo Stadium next year.
“We haven’t had that sort of stadium feel since the 2000 Olympics, and to be able to potentially give ourselves the best bid for ’32 is very exciting,” she said.
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she → ’ → 32
Moreton Bay Mayor Peter Flannery said next year’s world cup would be the biggest sporting event ever held in the city.
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cup → say → city
“Having a world cup in your city is a significant boost and [gives us the] ability to put it on the world stage,” he said.
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he → have → stage
“The Olympics and Paralympics are going to put Queensland on the world map, and you see that happening now.
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that → go → map
“A world cup is the next level down from that, but it gives that profile that goes right around internationally.”
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that → give → profile
Before its move to Kayo Stadium, the world cup was going to be held at the nearby Talobilla Park, which Flannery said would serve as a warm-up facility during the tournament.
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Flannery → go → tournament
Tickets for the 2027 Women’s Softball World Cup, to be held between April 5 and 11, go on general sale on Thursday.
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Tickets → hold → Thursday
Loh said organisers were hopeful of setting a new attendance record for the event, which would be the first held in Australia since the inaugural tournament in 1965.
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which → say → 1965
“It will be the world record if we can get 10,000 seats sold [for a match],” she said.
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she → get → match
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