A new round was added to baseball's qualifying tournament for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, a system that could have given the United States a second chance to get to the Athens Games.

This is a significant change in light of the U.S. loss to Mexico in the quarterfinals of the Olympic qualifier in Panama in 2005.

Qualification for the eight-team Olympic baseball competition will now take place in two phases, the International Baseball Federation said Thursday. Also, qualification will now be based on the results over an entire tournament, with single-elimination games no longer part of the format.

Games will be played in Taichung at the Intercontinental stadium and in Dou Liou at the stadium. Yes, that Dou Liou in Yunlin county, south of Changhua county.