LAHORE: Pakistan will take on Afghanistan in the opening match of the first South Asian Baseball Championship, starting at the Punjab Stadium here on Tuesday.

Speaking at a news conference here, Shaukat Javed, President of the Pakistan Baseball Federation, said four teams including Sri Lanka, Nepal, besides Pakistan and Afghanistan were participating in the championship. The matches will be played on single league basis until April 17. The team which obtain maximum points would be declared as winners.

Shaukat said as president of the South Asian Baseball Federation he had sent invitations for the championship to all the SAARC countries including India and Bangladesh, but only teams from Nepal, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan reached.

Shaukat said India and Bangladesh gave no reason for not sending their teams to Pakistan for the championship, insisting that security was not an issue as appropriate arrangements had been made in this regard.

Pakistan was in a position to claim gold medal if the game was included in the South Asian Games, he said.

He added Pakistan, who were top-ranked team in the region, were also sixth in the Asian rankings.