The World Baseball Softball Confederation has released the official opening round fixtures for the upcoming WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup ©WBSC

The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) has released the official opening round fixtures for the upcoming WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup 2016 in Gijang, South Korea, which will begin on September 3.

A total of 44 international matches will be contested with the 12 competing nations each starting the competition with three games in three days as part of the opening round.

The four-time defending world champions Japan will open against world number four Canada.

World number two United States, winners of the first-ever Pan-American Games gold medal in women's baseball last year in Toronto, will take on number nine Hong Kong on opening day.

World number three Australia, who were bronze medal winners at the last Women's Baseball World Cup in 2014 in Miyazaki, Japan, and world number six Chinese Taipei, will meet on day one.

The Netherlands and India will contest game one ©WBSC
The Netherlands and India will contest game one ©WBSC

Pakistan will debut on the World Championship stage against hosts and world number 11 South Korea.

European representative and world number seven Netherlands, and un-ranked India, will officially play game one of the women's baseball flagship event, while number five Venezuela and number eight Cuba will engage in an all-Americas contest to begin their tournaments.

At the conclusion of the opening round, the top two nations from each four-team group will advance to compete against each other in the 'super round', while nations eliminated will compete in the consolation round.

The top two nations of the super round will compete in the World Championship final on September 11.

The bronze medal match between the third and fourth-place finishers of the super round will take place ahead of the final.

The premier women's baseball event will inaugurate the newly completed $18 million (£13.7 million / €15.9 million) Gijang Hyundai Dream Ballpark.

The facility features four international standard baseball fields-of-play, three of which will host games.

"It's a tremendous honour and great day for women in sports to have the Women's Baseball World Cup officially open a prestigious facility like Gijang Hyundai Dream Ballpark," said WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari.

"WBSC is highly committed to ensuring that the athletes in our sport -- both male and female -- have more and more exciting opportunities to be showcased on the world stage.

"This new facility will also serve the needs of the local community, particularly as baseball's popularity in Korea, as the top spectator sport in the nation, is expected to see more record numbers in participation and fan-attendance in 2016."