2006 World Junior Championship

The 2006 World Junior Championship was held in Sancti Spíritus, Sancti Spíritus. It was the 22nd World Junior Championship.

South Korea won the tournament, taking the Gold Medal game 4-3 over the USA with a 9th-inning run. Kwang-hyun Kim, Yong-chan Lee, Tae-hoon Im and Hyeon-jong Yang were among their players. Yang beat Canadian ace Phillipe Aumont in the semifinal. It was Korea's fourth Gold, third-most after Cuba and the US.

The USA went 8-3 and took the Silver, their 10th time doing so. Matt Dominguez hit 3-run homers against Cuba in the quarterfinals and Mexico in the semifinals; he drove in 11 runs in the event. Mike Moustakas drove in five in a win over Italy. Other players included Michael Main (5 for 10), Jarrod Parker (1-0, 0.71) and Blake Beavan (11 K in a shutout of Cuba in the quarterfinals). US manager Jason Hisey had played in the 1987 Junior Championship.

Canada got the Bronze, beating Mexico 6-2 in the Bronze Medal game. It was Canada's fifth Bronze, tying Taiwan and Australia for second-most, one behind the USA. Players included Phillipe Aumont, Brett Lawrie, James Paxton (all three of them being first-round draft picks in MLB) and David Narodowski. They were managed by Greg Hamilton.

Mexico finished fourth. A highlight was a 3-0 shutout of the US. Rogelio Noris played for them.

Australia included Matt Kennelly, Josh Spence, Mitch Dening, Allan De San Miguel, Stefan Welch and Brad Tippett. Tony Harris managed them.

Cuba's roster included Vladimir García, Aroldis Chapman, Freddy Asiel Álvarez, Dayán Viciedo, Alberto Soto and Leonys Martín. Their manager was Carlos Marti.

Spain included future minor leaguers Yancarlo Franco and Lesther Galvan. They were managed by Néstor Pérez Sr. with coach Nestor Perez.

Italy featured Luca Panerati, Alessandro Ularetti, Renato Imperiali, Alex Liddi, Matteo D'Angelo, Alex Sambucci and Andrea Lucati. Their skipper was Marco Mazzieri.

The Netherlands had Ramon Romeijn, Dwayne Kemp, Zair Koeiman, Joey Eijpe, Kevin Heijstek, Bart Sabel, Rien Vernooij, Calvin Martinus and Tom Stuifbergen. Eric de Bruin was the manager and Eddy Dix was a coach.

Panama's roster included Angel Antonio Cuan, Shaydron Buckridge, Ruben Tejada and Arquimedes Nieto.

South Africa's team had Anthony Phillips, Justin Lazarus, Moegamat-Zaid Hendricks, Mpho Ngoepe, Jacobus Mostert, Bradley Erasmus, Kyle Botha, Jamie Rossouw and Jared Elario. Neil Adonis was manager and Nick Dempsey was a coach.

Taiwanese players included Kai-Wen Cheng, Chih-Lung Huang, Po-Ting Hsiao, Wang-Wei Lin.