Pakistan to feature in XIV West Asia Baseball Cup
A total of six nations are to vie in the 2019 West Asia Baseball Cup which is slated to be held from 15th to 20th July at Japan Friendship Baseball Stadium in Sri Lanka.
This year’s XIV West Asia Baseball Cup will mark its 14th edition and this tournament will notably take place at South Asia’s first ever dedicated baseball ground, the Japan-Sri Lanka Friendship Baseball Ground in Diyagama, which was donated by Japan through its international development assistance arm JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency).
Sri Lanka is set to host India, Pakistan, Iran, Nepal and Bangladesh in the 14th edition of the West Asia Baseball Cup from 15 to 20 July 2019, organised in association with the Sri Lanka Amateur Baseball/Softball Association.
Pakistan have been drawn in group B along with Bangladesh and Iran while group A has; India, Nepal and the hosts, Sri Lanka.
The tournament will also see Sri Lanka defend the title they won for the first time in 2017, a victory that marked the pinnacle of a journey which had begun back in 1985, when the sport had first been introduced to the country by the American and Japanese embassy.
Pakistan will play its first match against Bangladesh on 16th July and this time, there will be no game between the two rival nations; Pakistan and India.
In the year’s prior, Sri Lanka had twice emerged runners-up to Pakistan - in 2012 and 2013 - while they were outside of the top three as recently as 2015. Since then Sri Lanka has seen their global ranking rise to 41 out of 127 playing nations as per the latest World Softball/Baseball Confederation (WSBC) rankings.
Though Pakistan remains the top ranked West Asian team in 24th place, while Iran (53), India (65) and Nepal (69), are placed lower down the list. Bangladesh meanwhile are the newest Asian nation to be added to the official WSBC rankings and will be hoping to leave their mark at the tournament.
