World baseball body draws fire for revising rankings

SEOUL, Jan. 14 (Yonhap) -- The International Baseball Federation (IBAF) came under fire Wednesday for suddenly switching the global baseball rankings of South Korea and the U.S. without any clear explanation.

According to the IBAF's original world rankings posted on its Web site early
Wednesday morning (local time), South Korea ranked second with a total score of
779.82 points, trailing Cuba, which received 941.50 points.
The U.S. and Japan came in next with scores of 719.3 and 661 points, respectively.
The South Korean team won the gold medal in the Beijing Summer Olympics last year
and finished third in the inaugural World Baseball Classic (WBC) in 2006. Cuba
won the IBAF Baseball World Cup in 2005 and finished second in the 2008 Olympics
and the WBC.
The IBAF released the first world baseball rankings based on the final standings
of each team in IBAF-led international competitions, including the Olympics and
the WBC.
On Wednesday afternoon, however, the global baseball governing body suddenly
switched the standings of South Korea and the U.S. without giving any clear
explanation. In the revised ranking, the U.S. came in second with 799.32 points,
up by over 80 points from the previous version, while South Korea dropped to
third, with its score unchanged at 779.82.
Japan remained in fourth place, but its score was raised by 30 to 691 points,
while China jumped one notch to 14th with a score of 97.7, up from 89.7.
Local baseball officials suspect that the confusion may have been caused by a
miscalculation of points.
brk@yna.co.kr
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