China will keep baseball and softball as official events in the next 2009 National Games even though the two events would not be included in the 2012 London Olympic Games, a top Chinese sports official said in Nanjing , East China on Wednesday.
Xiao Tian, deputy minister of the State General Sports Administration, which governs China's sports, told a press conference that softball is one of the most important sport in China and it will remain a medal event in the next National Games to be held in east China's Shandong Province.
"We will not drop baseball and softball from the National Games, " Xiao said. "They will remain on the list in 2009."
The International Olympic Committee decided to cancel these two events in Singapore last July.
China is one of world's biggest softball power, winning the silver medal in the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996 and finishing fourth in Athens last year.