More than 200 children are taking part in baseball5 training sessions in Ivory Coast ©WBSC

Ivory Coast is seeking to develop its baseball5 discipline with a view to competing at the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Youth Baseball5 World Cup Africa Qualifier, with more than 200 children participating in training sessions twice a week.

The three-month training period is due to run until the end of March.

Fifteen coaches are leading the sessions for children, who are divided into those aged from 10 to 12 and those aged from 13 to 15.

These aim to introduce participants to the basics of baseball5, a pitcher-free discipline which requires only a rubber ball to play and no bat and is on the programme for the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games.

An inaugural Ivory Coast Baseball5 Youth Championship is set to conclude the project.

Baseball5 is on the programme for the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games ©WBSC
Baseball5 is on the programme for the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games ©WBSC

Directors from the Olympafrica centre in Soubré in Ivory Coast took part in a workshop with the WBSC held in Somone in Senegal last year, receiving training from baseball5 certified instructors Daniel Atemo, Andrea D'Auria and Chedli Mokrani.

It is hoped that the acquired knowledge could lead to Ivory Coast competing at the Youth Baseball5 World Cup Africa Qualifier, due to be held in Ghana from May 14 to 23 this year.

A host is still to be determined for this year's Youth Baseball5 World Cup.

The 2025 edition of the tournament is set to serve as a qualifier for Dakar 2026.

A baseball5 development programme was first introduced in Ivory Coast following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the WBSC and Olympafrica in October 2021.