Colombia failed to participate in the Women's World Softball Championship going on in Beijing for visa delay, the organizers said after receiving the explanation from the South American side on Monday.

All the games versus Colombia will be forfeited with a score of 7-0 against Colombia in line with the International Softball Federation (ISF) rules.

All teams in pool B along with Colombia will have one game missed with seven points awarded and the absence of Colombia will not affect the schedule.

Colombia Softball Association officially explained to ISF the reason of exit, which is the visa delay affecting the flight booking and their travel schedule, the organizers told.

The other teams in pool B are Australia, Japan, Chinese Taipei, Greece, Venezuela, Netherlands and Botswana, all of which have already pocketed a 7-0 victory without play.

The World Softball Championship is the first Olympic test event in Beijing with 15 (after the exit of Colombia) teams competing in two pools, which will produce four spots (excluding China, the host) participating Beijing 2008 Olympics.

The 2008 Olympic softball tournament will be the last for at least eight years. Softball first featured as a medal sport at the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996, but it was removed from the Olympic events for 2012 London Olympics.

Source: Xinhua