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Cuba doubts participation in Baseball Classic

Cuban official says first World Cup-style tourney too commercial

HAVANA - Cuba’s top sports official said Wednesday he doubts the nation will participate in next year’s World Baseball Classic, calling the event commercialization of the sport.

Baseball’s first World Cup-style tournament, an 18-day, 16-nation event organized by Major League Baseball and its players’ association, is scheduled to start March 3, will be played in the United States, Asia and Latin America.

“Cuba doubts it will participate, primarily because the reasons and the interests behind the event have yet to be stated clearly,” Humberto Rodriguez, president of Cuba’s National Institute of Sports, told The Associated Press Wednesday.

The decision will be made by December, Rodriguez said.

“However, I can already tell you ... that if it’s about capitalizing baseball to show off economic power, we are not in agreement,” he said.

While Japanese management has approved, the Japanese players’ association has not made a decision.

© 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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