KARACHI: The sixth National Mens Softball Championship and the second women’s U-19 softball event will be simultaneously held in Rawalpindi from Oct 18-21 in which leading teams of the country will participate.

This was decided in a high-level meeting of the Softball Federation of Pakistan under the presidentship of Mohammad Saleem Khan.

The meeting was also attended by secretary general Haider Khan Lehri, head coach Asif Azeem, chief selector Marooful Hasan, Sindh Softball Association chief Jahangir Mughal, Balochistan Softball Association secretary Naseem Khan and Karachi Softball Association president Zeeshan Merchant.

Saleem Khan said that invitations have been sent to Pakistan Police, the four provinces and Islamabad for participation in the men’s championship. He added that sincere efforts are being made to improve the infrastructure and popularise the game of softball at the school, college and district level which is producing new and talented players across the country.

Saleem further disclosed that in December this year, Pakistan women’s under-19 softball team will be competing in the Junior Women’s Championship which will be held in Indonesia while the men’s team will be participating in the Asian men’s softball qualifying rounds in Singapore which will serve as qualifiers for the World Softball event to be held in Canada in 2015.

Head coach Asif Azeem, speaking on the occasion, said more new talent will be unearthed during the two events in Rawalpindi and a camp will soon be set up for the outstanding players where the coaches and experts will impart techniques and rules of the game.

Chief selector Maroof also expressed hope that the standard of the game will improve with the upcoming events an that will help in forming a strong international team n the future.

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2014