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Japan tops first women's baseball world rankings
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-13 02:17

LAUSANNE:Japan heads the first women's baseball world rankings published Wednesday by the International Baseball Federation, with the United States second and Canada third.

The list was released on the eve of an International Olympic Committee meeting in Berlin which will decide if baseball can be a contender to return to the Games program in 2016. It was dropped after the Beijing Olympics last year.

The IBAF has promoted the women's game to fulfill the Olympic movement's demand for gender equality as baseball competes with six other sports for inclusion. A shortlist of two sports will be confirmed Thursday and put to a vote of the full IOC membership in October.

The women's rankings were compiled from results at the three World Cups to be staged.

Japan tops the nine-team list on the strength of its win when hosting the 2008 tournament. Canada got the silver medal and the U.S. _ winner of the two previous events in 2004 and 2006 _ took bronze.

Cuba, silver medalist at Beijing, leads the men in the third edition of their rankings which debuted in January.

Olympic champion South Korea is second, World Baseball Classic winner Japan is third and the United States, bronze medalist in Beijing, is fourth.

Venezuela used its bronze medal at the Classic in March to climb two places into ninth on the list. Australia dropped out of the top 10.The Netherlands is the top European nation in sixth.