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LAHORE: Pakistan will meet Iran in the opening match of the 10th West Asian Baseball Cup at the Punjab Stadium here on Friday with Pakistan Olympic Association president Lt. Gen. (retd.) Syed Arif Hasan set to inaugurate the tournament.
The other two countries in the tournament are Afghanistan, who arrived in Lahore in the wee hours of Thursday, and Sri Lanka who are due today.
Pakistan Federation Baseball secretary Khawar Shah welcomed all the foreign teams and assured them of fool-proof security arrangements.
“The Punjab government has made excellent security arrangements for the visitors and the event will successfully end on March 28,” he said. “The PFB has made a lot of efforts in their bid to host this event after we organized first SAARC Cup in Lahore last year.
“Five teams confirmed their participation in this tournament including India and Nepal. India failed to send their team while Nepal’s request for participation came too late.”
Khawar added that Pakistan are fully prepared to win the contest.
“Our boys are well-trained by the Korean coach and they are looking in a good position to beat all the sides to enter the main round of the Asia Cup where we will be playing against the likes of South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and China,” he said.
He informed that the winners of this contest and another one from the East Asian qualifiers would make the six-team contest of the Asia Cup to be held later this year.
