By Sohail Ali
LAHORE, Jul 26 (APP):Pakistan Federation Baseball has announced to hold the 24th National Men’s Baseball Championship from September 6-11 in Rawalpindi.
President, Pakistan Federation Baseball, Syed Fakhar Ali Shah said here on Monday that teams from Pakistan Army, WAPDA, Police, H.E.C, Railways, Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Islamabad and Gilgit-Baltistan will participate in the six day premier baseball event.
He said Baseball Federation of Asia has postponed the 15th West Asia Baseball Cup to be held in Iran this year.
“As Pakistan was the runner-up team in the 14th West Asia Cup, it has qualified for the 30th Asian Baseball Championship to be played in Chinese Taipei in December this year.
“Teams from Japan, Chinese Taipei, South Korea, China, Philippines, Thailand and Sri Lanka will participate in the event”, he said.
He said the selection committee of PFB the will select the talented players of the National championship to attend a training camp to prepare for the Asian championship.
He said Japan Chinese Taipei and South Korea are top three teams in world ranking and they will be posing a serious threat to other teams in the Asian championship.
“Pakistan is ranked 26th in the world and compared to the facilities available for baseball in the top countries of world and even in Asia countries, it does not even have a regular ground for baseball.
If the government cooperates and provides grounds for baseball in the country, our ranking can be further improved.
“To prepare for the Asian championship the PFB is keen to set up training camp in collaboration with the Pakistan Sports Board in Lahore or Islamabad so that the best team can be prepared”, he added.
