ISLAMABAD: The Indian baseball team finally touched the Pakistan soil Friday evening to compete in the West/South Asia Championship that got underway in Islamabad the same day.
Indian Baseball Secretary Harish Kumar soon after crossing the border to Pakistan talked to 'The News', saying he and his team members were excited to be part of the Championship and were sorry for the unnecessary delay.
When asked what caused the delay and refusal by the Indian authorities to allow the team members to cross the border, he said, “It was not the Indian government's fault. We were unable to get our documents attested from the concerned authorities. We were required to get our travelling papers attested but due to the January 26 holiday in India we were unable to get that done.”
Harish said his players and officials did not face any difficulty in making adjustments and hence getting permission to cross the border.
India missed their opening match against Palestine on Friday. “We requested Fakhar Shah, president Pakistan baseball, to adjust the opening match for another time as we wanted to play all our matches and are even ready to play two matches in a day.”
Fakhar Shah, when contacted, said Palestine had already been declared the winners. “We have to abide by rules and rules say that in case of no show, the match is awarded to the team that is present,” he said.
He, however, said that India were lucky to be part of the competition. “The Indian team is lucky to have crossed the border in time to stay in the competition.”
Meanwhile, Pakistan team captain Faqeer Hussain scored three runs with Wasim Akram managing two as Pakistan blanked Afghanistan 17-0 in their opening match.
Sri Lanka were dominant against Nepal winning the opening match 26-0.