China will meet Canada in its first appearance in the Olympic baseball tournament as host.

According to the fixtures released?in Beijing on?Tuesday by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG), the baseball tournament will kick off on Aug. 13 and run until Aug. 23.

The venue is the Beijing Wukesong Sports Center Baseball Field.

The eight participating teams are host China, the top three in the Olympic Qualification Tournament South Korea, Canada and Chinese Taipei, the European Qualification Tournament winner the Netherlands, Asian champion Japan, as well as the United States and Cuba, the top two in the America Qualification Tournament.

The eight teams will play in a round-robin format and the top four progressed into the semi-finals in which the No. 1 will meet the No. 4 while the No. 2 will face the No. 3.

The baseball tournament will be abandoned in the next Olympic Games, the 2012 London Olympics.

(Xinhua News Agency June 18, 2008)