World Baseball Softball Confederation Adds Two Japanese Sponsors For U18 Event

The World Baseball Softball Confederation on Thursday announced that two Japan-based conglomerates have been named official sponsors of the 2015 WBSC U18 Baseball World Cup. Japan's biggest oil company, JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp., and healthcare company Otsuka Pharmaceutical are the WBSC's new partners. Tokyo-based JX Nippon will have its leading brand, ENEOS, featured on signage across the U18 Baseball World Cup venues, including Hanshin Koshien Stadium, and all media backdrops. It is the first time that JX Group, which has several high-profile partnerships across the motor sports world and has sponsored past WBSC Women's Baseball World Cups, expands into the int'l youth baseball market to help grow global awareness of its leading brand. Otsuka will have one of its flagship nutritional products, Pocari Sweat, become the official sports drink of the U18 Baseball World Cup (WBSC).