This last week the Pakistan Federation Baseball held a function in honour of the national team which played the World Cup Classic qualifying round in New York in September last year.

Though the team was ranked 5th in Asia and 22nd in the world at the time of qualification, it was a big achievement of the team to qualify for the premier event.

It was expected that Pakistan team, comprising all amateurs players, could not win any match against rival teams which were laced with professional players, but even qualifying to play baseball in New York, the home of the baseball, was a big honour and the boys must have learnt a lot of experience.

The financial constraint had restrained the federation from holding the function in honour of the boys, which was finally made possible after several months.

All 27 players of the touring party were gathered at the Punjab Stadium where federation’s president Shaukat Javed awarded a cheque for Rs50,000 to every player in recognition of their performances.

The baseball is a very expensive game and it needs special attention of the government and private sponsors for its promotion, or else the players affiliated with the game will have no future.

The PFB will participate in the Asia Cup to be held in Taiwan this year and the Asian Games next year.

PFB chairman Shaukat Javed says the preparation plan for the two tournaments has been finalised and four coaches from the US will reach Pakistan to train the national team for two months.

A private NGO working in Pakistan is helping the federation for bringing four coaches from the US. Last year, the same NGO had also arranged one US coach before touring America for the World Cup Classic qualifying round.

PFB president Khawar Shah says though the award of Rs50,000 to each player is not enough at all, the financial constraints of the federation are a big hurdle in the way to award players substantially.

The successful show of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) has also attracted Pakistan Kabaddi Federation (PKF) to kick-start its own Super League in April this year.

Former hockey Olympian Muhammad Usman has already bought the first team of Islamabad last week. Five other teams are yet to be sold out.

Mr Usman says that kabaddi, despite being a popular game in Punjab and other provinces, is being neglected and he seized an opportunity to promote the traditional sport of the country.

The PKF has received bidding for five other teams and soon all teams will be sold out. Kabaddi has a lot of potential to attract huge crowd at the stadiums to watch matches, particularly between teams of Indian and Pakistani Punjabs.

Earlier, the Punjab Squash Association has also announced its own Super League to be held in April for which heavy cash prizes are at stake.

Hopefully, the other sports federations will also follow the suit to give a new life to the sports in the country.

Lahore remained a hub of sports activities last week. The national cricket team held one-week long training camp at the Gaddafi Stadium as part of its preparations for the tour of West Indies.

Earlier, 32 probables attended the camp and the national selection committee headed by Inzamamul Haq picked up two teams of ODI and T20 for the tour.

During the training, the media remained busy in covering the hearing of spot-fixing cases against Muhammad Irfan and Shahzaib Hasan.

The golf also dominated the scene as three tournaments were held in Lahore last week. All the country’s professionals were in Lahore to feature in these events.

The National Polo Championship and the National Junior Tennis Championship are also in progress in Lahore.

The national hockey team also left for the tour of New Zealand and Australia to play a total of nine Test matches -- four against the Kiwis and five against the Kangaroos.

It was shocking news for the national team that it has no place in participating teams of the Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament to be held in Malaysia next month.

It is the first time that Pakistan did not receive the invitation from its Malaysian counterpart for which no reason was given.

It is not a good sign for the already struggling national hockey team which is getting less opportunity to play international matches not because of lack of funds but for lack of coordination and communication of the Pakistan Hockey Federation with other countries.

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2017