By Lee Kyoung Mi and Lee Jihae

The preliminary round in Korea of the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier 12 competition on Nov. 6 launched at Seoul's Gocheok Sky Dome, with 12 countries participating including Korea, the U.S., Japan and Venezuela.

The co-hosts of the event, Mexico and Taiwan, began their respective games on Nov. 3 and Nov. 5, respectively.

The Premier 12 is a quadrennial tournament whose inaugural edition in November 2015 was hosted by Japan and Taiwan. The 12 competing countries are put into groups A, B and C in the preliminary round, and the top two finishers from each group go on to the "super round."

Winning the inaugural championship, Group C member Korea beat Australia, 5-0, on Nov. 6 and Canada, 3-1, on Nov. 7. The Taegeuk Warriors are thus eyeing their second consecutive Premier 12 title and a berth in the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.

Group A action in Guadalajara, Mexico, saw the U.S. and Mexico advance to the next round, while Japan and Taiwan did so for Group B, whose games were played in the latter country. As of 10 a.m. on Nov. 8, Korea led Group C with a record of 2-0, followed by Canada and Cuba at 1-1, and Australia 0-2.

km137426@korea.kr