With baseball and softball to be dropped from the 2012 London Olympics, the China Baseball League (CBL) is at a crossroads.

The decision, made during a secret vote in Singapore early this month, is seen as a big blow to the rapidly developing league, whose popularity has been spreading throughout the nation since its first season in 2002.

Officials from the Multi-ball Games Administrative Centre are aware of the decision, but are trying to play down the effect it will have on the sports.

"Both sports are spectacular. There is a lot of fun in baseball and softball. But the truth is people cannot enjoy them if they do not know the rules," said Hu Jianguo, director of the Centre, at the CBL finals in Beijing.

The Beijing Tigers won their third consecutive title, beating the Tianjin Lions 3-0 in the best-of-five championships finals.

Great efforts made on the sport's development were paid back in May, when China won the bronze medal in Miyazaki at the 23rd Asian Baseball Championship, a sign of how the China National Baseball Team has improved.

The medal earned China a precious entry ticket for the World Cup in Holland in September this year.

It has been 144 years since baseball arrived on Chinese shores, landing first in Shanghai. In all those years China has never tasted victory against one of the "Big Three" (Japan, South Korea, Chinese Taipei) in international competition.

But the sport has to pay the price of a development that is unbalanced around the world.

"In America, east Asia and some European countries, baseball is developing. But there is no baseball at all in places like west Asia."

It has been claimed that the two sports were kicked out of the Olympics because officials felt they were too American for the world sports stage.

Baseball was a demonstration sport at the 1984 Los Angeles Games and 1988 Seoul Games, and became a medal sport in 1992 at Barcelona, where Cuba won the gold. The Cubans beat Japan in the 1996 final at the Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, where the 32 games had an average attendance of 28,749.

Hu also believes the absence of the top players from American Major League Baseball (MLB) is part of the reason the sport was axed.

"The Olympic Games should be a demonstration of the world's best teams and players. But its timing collides with the American baseball league."

While professionals were first allowed to participate in 2000, major league baseball didn't allow players on 40-man major league rosters to go. The US team won the gold, led by former Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda and current Milwaukee pitcher Ben Sheets, but the Americans didn't even qualify for the Athens Games, eliminated with a 2-1 loss to Mexico in a qualifier.

During the IOC session in Singapore, IOC president Jacques Rogge said baseball was singled out because Major Leaguers don't play in the Olympics and the US league's drug-testing programme falls way short of international standards. Softball suffered because of a perceived association with baseball and a lack of global popularity.

"In the case of baseball, the best athletes are not competing and the major athletes perform in an environment where doping controls are not what we have in the Olympic world," Rogge said. "The session thought there was not enough universal appeal (for softball)."

Rogge said the two sports had not done enough to save themselves since the 2002 session in Mexico City, where the IOC put off a vote on dropping baseball, softball and modern pentathlon.

"Both sports should have read the writing on the wall in Mexico," Rogge said. "They could see that the IOC wasn't happy with the way the sports were being organized. The two sports have not worked in the interval of three years to address the concerns of the IOC."

With baseball having a final fling at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Hu said they firstly have to be focused on the preparation for 2008.

"We have not started any plans to deal with the situation. We will stick to the previous plans and our target to advance to the top six in 2008 will no be changed.

"It will even make the sport more important and will draw more attention in 2008.

"We will also continue efforts to develop the China Baseball League and get prepared for the chance of baseball's return to Olympic Games."

The sport, the first eliminated since polo in 1936, is eligible to re-apply for the 2016 Games.

But whether the sport will make a return or not, China is not slowing its efforts down yet.

In 2003, the China Baseball Association (CBA) signed a working agreement with the MLB to promote the game in advance of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The deal, which involves funding, scouting and player development, has already played a key role in China's milestone success at the past Asian Championships.

Under the agreement, the MLB implemented a variety of game development and youth initiatives in China, including training coaches and umpires and arranging a series of training and competing programmes in the United States for the national team.

"My ultimate goal is to make baseball a truly Chinese sport in 20 years. I feel we are moving closer to it and it's only a matter of time before that dream is realized," said Jim Small, the Tokyo-based vice-president of international market development for MLB.

Tom McCarthy, President of Dynasty Sports Marketing China, the promoter of the CBL, said the IOC's decision was disappointing, but it won't affect his company's commitment to the development of baseball in China, especially the CBL league.

"As for the sport after 2008, I don't make predictions on that," said McCarthy, adding that the Olympic exile was a wake-up call for baseball officials.

"They (players and officials) have to work harder and popularize the sport around the world," he said.

(China Daily 07/12/2005 page15)