LAHORE: The visas to Palestine’s baseball team have been issued while Indian officials are waiting for the clearance from Pakistan’s Interior Ministry to get the visas to send their team to Pakistan for the West Asia Baseball Cup being held in Islamabad from Jan 25 to Feb 1, president of the Pakistan Federation Baseball Fakhar Ali Shah said on Thursday.

According to Fakhar, the Indian Baseball Federation had applied for the visas and once the Interior Ministry cleared them they would announce their travel plan for Pakistan.

“The arrival of the foreign teams starts on Jan 22, he said. “Sri Lanka, Iran and Nepal are the other participating teams.”

Fakhar said the Indian and Pakistan baseball federations had very cordial relations recalling the Indian team had visited Pakistan some three years ago

It is noteworthy that the Indian government is sending its baseball team to Pakistan amid tense political relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours which have not played against each other in a bilateral cricket series since 2013.

Published in Dawn, January 13th, 2023