The WBSC is to hold its first blind baseball tournament ©WBSC

The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) plans to sanction its first-ever blind baseball event later this year.

Dutch city Beek has been chosen to host the inaugural WBSC Blind Baseball International Cup on August 20 and 21.

The Netherlands, Germany, Britain, France, Italy and the United States are expected to compete in the mixed-gender event.

They have been split into groups of three, with the top two to advance to semi-finals.

The tournament has come about following an Italian Blind Baseball Association (AIBxC) programme in blind baseball being set up in Beek in October last year.

Coaches trained by the AIBxC held a clinic on May 7, and 12 of the 16 players to take part have gone on to become members of the first Dutch blind baseball team.

The AIBxC is one of the world's leading baseball for the blind organisations ©AIBxC
The AIBxC is one of the world's leading baseball for the blind organisations ©AIBxC

Don Landolphi, the AIBxC's head of US operations, also helped select players for the US team and ran a tryout in New York.

The AIBxC is an associate WBSC member and leading authority on blind baseball.

It has frequently collaborated with the WBSC on efforts to grow baseball for the blind, including designing an introductory course for the WBSC Academy.

The WBSC views staging international events - of which this will be its first - as a stepping stone on the path to International Paralympic Committee recognition.