October 9, 2005	Sunday	Ramzan 4, 1426

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

LAHORE, Oct 8: Yukichi Maeda, advisor to president of Baseball Federation of Asia hopes Pakistan will host the Asia Cup qualifying round in April.

“I have inspected the Pindi Stadium, Rawalpindi, the proposed venue of the event and the accommodation facilities at the Pakistan Sports Complex and I am quite satisfied that Pakistan has all that is needed to host the event,” Maeda told reporters on Saturday after visiting the facilities at Islamabad on Friday in his capacity as representative of the Baseball Federation of Asia (BFA).

The qualifying round will be held from April 18 to 25. “I know there is no baseball stadium in Pakistan and the Pindi Stadium is for cricket.

But the stadium is in perfect condition to host a baseball championship and I am also impressed by the hostels of the Pakistan Sports Board,” he remarked

He stressed that on his recommendations, the BFA would allocate the Asia Cup qualifying round to Pakistan.

He pointed out that invitations had been extended to countries for participation in the qualifying round namely Iran, India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Sri Lanka.

The competing countries would have to confirm their participation by the end of February, 2006.

Each country, he explained, would send a contingent of 25-members comprising 20 players and five officials.

He specified that the BFA would help the Pakistan Baseball and Softball Federation in all technical aspects to organize the event in a befitting manner.

He went on to say that the winners of the qualifying round would join five nations to take part in the Asia Cup.

The top two countries of the Asia Cup would qualify for the next Olympic Games from Asia.

When asked if Pakistan despite being 5th ranked in Asia, would qualify for the Asian Games-2006 to be held at Doha, Qatar, Maeda stated that Pakistan had bright chances for it.

“I am strongly recommending Pakistan to make the six-nation draw in the Asian Games while representing South Asian Region on the basis of its 5th ranking in Asia,” he said.

Maeda said that in all six teams would take part in the Asian Games for which four countries namely, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and China had already qualified.

Pakistan, he added, could be the fifth country and the sixth country would be the champion of the South East Asian baseball championship to be held in the Philippines.

Maeda opined that Pakistan had bright future in baseball because it had physically strong players.

“The way Pakistan gained 5th ranking quickly in Asia shows the country has great potential and with proper training and facilities they could beat even Japan,” he said.

Maeda disclosed said that in Japan there were more than 100 baseball stadiums in addition to six indoor ones.

The game is being played in Japan for the last 150 years, he added.

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)