The Pakistan baseball team returned home from New York last week after making maiden appearance in the World Cup Baseball Qualifying round.

On the field it was hard nut to crack for Pakistan to earn any win, but off the field it earned many friends, including Americans of Pakistani origin who appreciated the efforts of the players, who despite belonging to a cricket-mad country managed to reach this far in baseball.

Many Pakistanis living in New York turned up to the MCU Baseball Stadium to watch matches against Brazil and Great Britain. Almost all were surprised to see that a Pakistani baseball team even existed. The US, especially New York, is the home of baseball.

Pakistan qualified for the event after attaining the 23rd position in the world ranking. The Major League Organization was the host of the event.

Other participating countries were Brazil, Israel and Great Britain. Pakistan played one match each against Brazil and Great Britain, but it had to face defeats in both matches and thus was out of competition. There was no match between Pakistan and Israel.

Many local sports journalists covered the event. Naeem Siddiqui, the first Pakistani in New York, who has bought his own tennis club and is running it successfully, said it was surprising for him to know that a baseball team from Pakistan was playing in New York.

He said if Pakistani baseball players managed to raise the standard of fitness and skill, there were lots of opportunities available for them to play baseball in the Major League, the most prestigious platform of the game in the world.

M. Haider, another Pakistani living in New Jersey, but who came to New York for some personal work, also passed similar remarks after watching the matches of the Pakistani team.

He said all three teams had hired the services of league players while Pakistan was the only team which had no such players in its rank.

The Pakistani flag had been flying throughout the event while the national anthem was also sung before the start of both matches. In the first match, a group of Pakistani living in New York sang the national anthem unimpressively.

Pakistan Federation Baseball president Khawar Shah lodged a protest with the organizers about the poor singing of the national anthem.

The organizer asked for apology and, in the second match, the audio of the national anthem was played.

Mr Shah said he was satisfied with the performance of Pakistani players as they fought well despite competing at such high level for the first time.

He said Pakistan ranked 23rd in the world despite the fact the country had not a single baseball stadium. He said the shortage of funds was the main hurdle in the way to promote the game.

He thanked US coach John Goulding who, after imparting training to the Pakistani team in Lahore for two months, also joined it in New York after flying from California.

Overall, it was a great experience as far as promotion of the baseball was concerned. The Major League donated a good number of baseball gadgets, including bats, helmets, balls, kits, bags and catching gloves, to all members of the Pakistani team.

An Israeli baseball official, Jerry Weinstein, especially came to the Pakistani camp in the hotel to welcome them for their maiden participation in the event. Israel won the event and qualified for the main round to be held in March, 2017, in Australia.

Last week, the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), realizing its mistake in picking the National Hockey Stadium as venue of the training camp for the national team for the Asian Champions Trophy, shifted the series of three matches between its senior and junior teams to Johar Town Stadium.

The condition of astro turf at the National Hockey Stadium is pathetic and its field has become dangerous for the players due to dust.

The Sports Board Punjab is the custodian of the stadium, but the improper arrangements and the unskilled staff are unable to maintain such mega infrastructures.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2016