The four countries qualified for the Olympics will be be joined by Chinese Taipei and New Zealand at the Blacktown International Sportspark.

The venue, located in Rooty Hill, a suburb of Sydney, hosted the softball tournament during the 2000 Olympic Games.

Australia, ranked eighth in the world, will be fielding two teams - Australia A and the Aussie Spirit.

After the tournament, Softball Australia will select 23 players that will compete under the banner of the Aussie Peppers of Minnesota in the USA National Pro Fastpitch as part of their build-up for Tokyo 2020.

Japan, ranked as number two and the silver medallists the last time softball featured on the Olympic programme at Beijing 2008, will start as the favourites.

Mexico are ranked fifth and Italy 10th. 

Chinese Taipei are ranked sixth but failed to qualify for Tokyo 2020, while New Zealand are 16th.

The world's top-ranked side, the 2008 Olympic champions United States, are not competing.

Canada, ranked third, are also not taking part.

The US are due begin their Olympic Games preparation on Tuesday (February 4) with a "Stand Beside Her Tour", which will take the defending world champions to more than 30 different locations across America.

Group matches in the Australia Pacific Cup are scheduled to take place on the first days before classification matches and the medal matches are due on Sunday (February 2).