Indian baseball squad to arrive in Lahore today

The Indian baseball team is set to arrive here on Wednesday to participate in the 15th West Asia Baseball Cup after it was finally granted a visa by the Pakistani authorities late on Tuesday night.

Only two days before the tournament begins, the 20-member Indian team will enter Pakistan by passing the Wagah Border, according to Syed Fakhar Ali Shah, president of the Pakistan Federation of Baseball.

Before the Pakistani embassy in New Delhi stamped the visas, according to Fakhar, the Pakistani Ministry of Interior had given NOCs for the Indian delegation on Tuesday morning.

The West Asia Baseball Cup will feature national teams from Sri Lanka, Palestine, and Nepal, all of which have already received visas, in addition to India and the hosts.

Fakhar stated that the Bangladeshi team will arrive at the Allama Iqbal Airport on Wednesday, while the Nepali team will also enter Pakistan through the Wagah Border. On the same day, teams from Sri Lanka and Palestine will arrive in Islamabad.

The PBF president noted that the visiting teams were strong baseball teams and said that Pakistan, which he thought had struggled to owe to a lack of financial support for the sport and infrastructure, was also respectable as the fifth-ranked team in Asia.