LAHORE, Nov 14: The Baseball Federation of Asia (BFA) has finally given a go-ahead to Pakistan to host the 7th Asia Cup in Rawalpindi on April 20-25 next year after it was convinced the Oct 8 earthquake had done no harm to the venue. The secretary of Pakistan Federation of Baseball and Softball (PFBS) Syed Khawer Shah told Dawn that he had received an official letter from the BFA to this effect.

The BFA had sent last month its special representative Yukichi Maeda of Japan to inspect the venue and other facilities for the mega event being held in the country for the first time. They finally allocated the event to Pakistan after receiving Maeda’s recommendations, he said.

The Oct 8 earthquake had worried BFA and they delayed announcing their final decision. “The BFA was reluctant to allot the event to Pakistan after the earthquake, but PFBS President Shaukat Javed convinced the Asian body by citing the ongoing England cricket team’s tour to Pakistan which had also played a three-day match at the same venue...,” he said.

Maeda, in fact, was in Islamabad when the earthquake hit.

“I apologize to you that my persuasion needed a little more time than I had planned, because some officials were worried about the affects of earthquake,” Maeda said in a letter.

The BFA has advised the member countries to send entries to Pakistan. Eight Asian countries will take part in the event.