LAHORE: The Pakistan Federation Baseball (PFB) is going to set a new world record, presently held by the US, when it organises exhibitions matches between Pakistan Greens and Whites teams in Skardu city on Oct 31, at the highest altitude of above 7,000 feet besides staging an inter-district championship in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Currently, Denver (Colorado) in the US is the highest baseball playing point at 5,130 feet, while Skardu is located at an altitude of around 7,310 feet. Another exhibition baseball match will be staged in Gilgit on Nov 3.

“The subject of organising these matches at the highest altitude by Pakistan has already been highlighted by the world baseball federation on its website,” PFB president Syed Fakhar Ali Shah said while addressing a press conference here at the office of the Sports Journalists Association of Lahore (SJAL) on Friday.

“Due to cold weather, currently prevailing in that area, it is not easy to hold the matches. However, the PFB has arranged special kits for the players to meet all the challenges of the harsh weather there,” he added.

To a question however, Fakhar said all the arrangements were being made on self-help basis without any assistance from the government. He hoped that besides the private sector the federal and other governments in this regard would come forward to play their role as the country would earn a unique honour globally by staging baseball matches at the highest altitude.

“For the last ten days, the PFB has been in contact with the government at different levels and hopefully soon it would come forward to help us out for this national cause.”

He said the PFB was also going to set up a baseball academy in Gilgit next month like it had done in Okara, Multan and some other places of Pakistan.

The PFB president said an inter-district championship of Gilgit-Baltistan featuring four teams would be staged on Nov 3 and 4.

“A two-day coaching course will also be held in Gilgit-Baltistan during the inter-district championship to prepare the technical staff of this region,” Fakhar stated.

He said two women of Hunza valley had already represented Pakistan in the World Cup held in South Korea and they produced fine performance mainly due to their better stamina.

“Due to Covid-19 all baseball events across the world have been deferred for the next year. And now, due to financial constraints, it will be a challenge [for PFB] to field the national team in six international events being held in the year 2021,” the PFB president added.

“The PFB needs financial support from the Ministry of Inter-provincial Coordination, otherwise, it will be difficult for us to compete in the international competitions.”

Meanwhile, Fakhar said if the government extended support to the PFB, the federation could organise home series against Malaysia, Bangladesh and Egypt, noting these countries were interested in coming to Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2020