First youth baseball academy will be inaugurated in Okara

Baseball

By Sohail Ali

LAHORE, July 28 (APP):-:The Pakistan Baseball Federation will open its first youth baseball
academy in Okara on August 9, 2020 after Eidul Adha. Syed Fakhar Ali Shah, President Pakistan Federation Baseball,  said here on Tuesday that baseball is becoming one of the most  popular sports in Pakistan.  Baseball is being played at school, college and university level  in the country and our national youth teams of various age categories  are regularly participating in international competitions, including U-12, U-15  and U-18 teams, abroad.

According to him, the federation had been working for the development of youth baseball in the country for the last ten years but the work of  youth development has come to a standstill due to lack of baseball  activities across the country due to ongoing corona pandemic.  This year, Pakistan’s U-12 and U-18 teams will have to participate  in the Asian Baseball Championships and if these events are further  delayed or postponed due to Corona virus, the youth baseball will  suffer a lot, he added.

Syed Fakhr Ali Shah said that the issue was discussed with the Chairman of the federation Shaukat Javed in a video link. “Shaukat Javed on this issue ordered to set up youth baseball academies in different cities of Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan to keep youth busy
in the game“, he said. Shaukat Javed further said that since baseball activities have been suspended due to the COVID-19 and camps of baseball are not being set up for the training
of players, it would be better to set up baseball academies in different cities  where young players will begin training under the watchful eyes of qualified coaches.

He said that after end of this epidemic when the new dates of the international baseball tournaments will be announced announced, we will have groups of trained players, from which we will select the best players to form our various teams to participate in the international events abroad. Shaukat Javed further said the first baseball academy in Okara will be set up under the supervision of Muhammad Hamood Lakhvi, Vice President of Pakistan Federation Baseball, who hails from Okara district. After this, youth baseball academies will be set up in Faisalabad, Jhang, Gujranwala, Bahawalpur, Hyderabad and Quetta within the next three months.It may be recalled that the Youth Baseball Academy is already functioning here in Bahria Town in and it’s trained and coached players participated in many international competitions and brought laurels for the country.

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