Havana, August 16 (JIT) - Cuba dropped from seventh to eighth place in the men's baseball world ranking, according to Tuesday's update, but continues to qualify for the third edition of the Premier 12.

The list continues to be headed by Japan, with 5,274 points, ahead of the United States (4654), Mexico (4226), South Korea (4025), Taipei of China (3991), Venezuela (3744), Netherlands (3187), Cuba (2880), Australia (2576), Dominican Republic (2482), Panama (2196) and Italy (1969).

This closes the list of the 12 countries that have qualified to date for the main World Baseball Softball Softball Confederation (WBSC) competition, although the quotas will be granted at the end of the current year 2023.

The most notable movement in the ranking, in positive, among the top 20 places, has been that of Panama (+3, from 14 to 11). Among the positions from 21 to 40 stand out Curaçao (+5, at 27), Sweden (+6, 33), New Zealand (+11, 34), the Philippines (+6, 36) and Hungary (+7, 40).

In that large segment, the most notorious drop is that of Puerto Rico (-2, 13), for the moment out of the Premier 12.

The men's baseball world ranking qualifies 80 member federations, after the incorporation of Singapore. Norway, Iran, Ghana and Nigeria saw their accumulated points expire in 2019.