Women's World Cup in 1991, as well as the 2007 edition. Bandy Bandy is a growing sport in Asia. While traditional in some former Soviet republics, especially Kazakhstan (bandy is the only team sport in which Kazakhstan has captured World Championship medals), it is more or less new in some other ones. President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj invited the Mongolian national team after its bronze medal in Division B of the 2017 World Championship. Japan also reached the semi-final. Consequently, Mongolia beat them in the bronze match. China started to compete in the World Championship in 2015 and the women's national team in 2016. Both Division B of the men's tournament 2018 and 2018 Women's World Championship (in which Japan plan to debut) will be played in China, which will be the first time either tournament is held in a totally Asian country (the area north and west of the Ural River is located in Europe, thus Kazakhstan, where the 2012 World Championship was held, is a transcontinental country). In September 2017 it was announced that an FIB office for development and marketing in Asia would open in Harbin. Apart from the countries mentioned, Afghanistan, Armenia, India and Kyrgyzstan are also FIB members. In the Philippines an attempt started in 2016 to introduce rink bandy. FIB is especially interested in having South Korea join the bandy community. As of 2017 negotiations are ongoing. Baseball Baseball is the most popular sport in Japan, where it was introduced in the 1870s and became professional in the 1920s. The Japanese Baseball League was operated from 1936 to 1949 and reorganized into the Nippon Professional Baseball in 1950. Teams have been historically identified with their corporate owners, not where the team is based, and have often relocated to other cities. Over 50 Japanese-born players have played in Major League Baseball, including Ichiro Suzuki, Hideki Matsui, Koji Uehara and Hideo Nomo. The Japan national baseball team has won the 2006 and 2009 World Baseball Classic. High school baseball is also popular in Japan. In South Korea, baseball was introduced in the 1900s and the KBO League was established in 1982, The South Korean team was the runner-up in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. The Taiwan-based Chinese Professional Baseball League was established in 1989. Like the NPB, these two leagues feature teams owned by major corporations. Basketball Basketball is popular in a number of Asian countries. FIBA Asia