UMPIRES SELECTED FOR ATHENS OLYMPICS
The twelve umpires who will work the softball competition at the 2004 Summer
Olympics were named today. International Softball Federation (ISF)
President Don Porter announced that the ISF Executive Council affirmed the
appointment of the group nominated by ISF Umpire-In-Chief Merle Butler. The
appointments include six female and six male umpires. There will also be
three alternate umpires in the event that any from the initial selection
become unavailable.
Mr. Butler, who at various ISF events including World Championships, World
Cups, regional games, and other major international competitions, has
observed all the umpires nominated, said, "I feel we have provided to the
ISF the very best umpires available, who have extensive experience at the
international level."
Those chosen are as follows:
Haruhi Goto, Japan (female)
Kelly Hunter, Canada (female)
Debbi Lauderback, United States (female)
Neville Lawrence, Australia (male)
Marty Makar, United States (female)
Vincent Maoeng, South Africa (male)
Leilani Okuda, United States (female)
Leanna Pacini, Canada (female)
Wayne Saunders, New Zealand (male)
Santos Vasquez, Puerto Rico (male)
Pavel Vychodsky, Czech Republic (male)
Yang Yi, China (male)
Alternates
Augustine Brea, Dominican Republic (male)
Weng-Meng LIN, Chinese Taipei (male)
Nicola Ogier, New Zealand (female)
There will be a total of 32 games played in the softball competition, which
runs from August 14-23, 2004. The full schedule is available on the 2004
Olympic Softball page of the ISF website
Tickets remain available for the softball games. Details for purchasing
tickets are also available via that same webpage.
http://www.internationalsoftball.com