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October 12, 2015

Pakistan Pitch for Baseball in SAF Games

Indian Express By Indraneel Das

12th October 2015  

CHENNAI: Believe it or not, baseball is one of the sports the Pakistan Olympic Association was requesting the South Asia Olympic Council to include at SAF Games next year. “Baseball is a poor cousin of cricket and whosoever doesn’t do well in it ends up playing baseball,” said POA vice-president Shaukat Javed. “It’s a sport that's growing in Pakistan.”

Javed and POA secretary general Muhammad Khalid Mahmood are in a two-member delegation that attended a South Asian Games Olympic Council meeting here on Sunday.

“We wanted the sport to be included but our request has not been accepted by IOA,” he said. “They said there won’t be enough time to prepare facilities of international standards in Guwahati or Shillong and it will be winter as well.

“It is a very popular sport, as it’s an offshoot, sister sport of cricket. There is passion for cricket in this region, so most players are familiar with the rules of the game, but baseball is a sport played in more than 100 countries. An Indian team visited Pakistan for the West Asia Baseball Championship in March.”

Javed said when Pakistan host the Games, baseball will definitely be included. “After India, it's Nepal, after which we will host it. Don't know when, where and how, but yes. And baseball will very much be included. Every hosting country has the option of introducing a new sport, so yes.”

Shaukat Javed, POA VP Javed also lamented the fall of squash in the country. “Because of infrastructure,” he said. “And that is leading to dearth of players.” After Jansher Khan and Jahangir Khan, the country is not producing many squash stars.

“Squash is still popular in Pakistan, but the main problem is lack of infrastructure for youngsters to participate in large numbers. Facilities in other countries are at a much higher scale. The Pakistan Squash Federation is aware of this situation, and is undertaking steps with regard to training and development of infrastructure. Hopefully, in the not too distant future, Pakistani squash players will once again emerge on the international scene.”

Javed said even the squash legends have been trying to promote the sport. “They are contributing at their level. Jahangir at the moment is the advisor to the president of the PSF while Jansher is in charge of the National Squash Academy. So they are actively involved.”

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