SFP plans to set up softball academy in Karachi

KARACHI: Softball Federation of Pakistan (SFP) will establish the first softball academy in Karachi and will expand the programme to Lahore, Quetta Peshawar and Islamabad.

SFP President Haider Khan Lehri has given green signal to the federation to launch the first academy.SFP secretary Asif Azeem has said that that the decision to establish the academy was taken after seeing the interest of young players in the sport. He said the academy would teach modern techniques and rules to players.

He added that qualified coaches would be hired to run the academy. Former and current players will be tasked with training both male and female players, he said. “We are in negotiations for a place for the academy and hopefully we will reach an agreement soon after Eid,” Asif said.

He said that international coaches would also come to coach at the academy. He added that they were already in contact with Softball Confederation of Asia (SCA) for this purpose. “The federation is also in contact with qualified coaches of different countries to hire them for Pakistan’s men’s and women’s teams,” Asif said.

He added that players who would perform well at the academy would be sent abroad for coaching and training courses.SFP has appointed Sindh Softball Association (SSA)’s Mohammad Nasir as Karachi Softball Academy director, Imran Zaman as Coordinator and Faraz Aijaz as chief coach.