KARACHI: Renowned sports patrons Omar Saeed and Dr Farhan Essa were elected as patron and president of Karachi Softball Association, respectively in the recently held elections for the next four-year term.

All the other office-bearers including Murad Hussain (senior vice-president), Ali Ratada and Mohammad Abbas Merchant, (vice-presidents), Faraz Aijaz (general secretary), Shiraz Asif (joint secretary), Usama bin Shujah (secretary finance), Abdul Subhan (Associate secretary), Shahzad Ahmed (chairman umpiring), Shahid Aftab (chairman coaching) and Kamran Munir (chairman technical committee) have been elected unopposed.

The announcement of the elected body was made by Chief Election Commissioner and Sectetary General of Sindh Softball Association Mohammad Zeeshan Merchant in a meeting of the general body pertaining to elections held at the Union Club.

Secretary Sindh Olympic (SOA) Ahmed Ali Rajput and President Sindh Softball Association Syed Waseem Hashmi were also present on the occasion.

The meeting also approved previous minutes and calendar for the next year’s events.

Omar Saeed, the newly-elected KSA patron, said that Karachi is the nursery of softball and the strengthening of infrastructure of softball here and the promotion of the game at schools, colleges and district level will help us groom star players for the future.

“Our youth’s softball skills and techniques can be further enhanced with grooming efforts and they can raise Pakistan’s flag by being part of the national team in future international events,” said Omar.

KSA president Dr Farhan Essa said that talented players from Karachi would be sent abroad for training and in case of improvement in the situation of covid, after Eid-ul-Fitr, Essa Lab will organise the Inter-school Softball Championship.

He further said that qualified coaches will be given monthly stipend so that they are able to fulfill their responsibilities with hardwork and complete integrity.

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2021