Pakistan defeated Palestine 11-3 in the final of the 15th West Asia Cup Baseball Championship to win the competition at Pakistan Sports Complex, Islamabad.
The home team continued its imperious form in the final as well, trouncing the first-time finalists in the summit clash.
Captain Faqir Hussain put Pakistan up early before eventually contributing 3 runs to the total while Arsalan Jamshaid, Mohammad Hussain and Fazal Khan scored two runs each to put Pakistan in command before the fifth innings even concluded.
Shahzad Ahmed and Muhammad Younis scored once as well to put the home side in complete control.
Ibrahim Shalabi, Rimz Yasin and Younis Haleem managed to score once each to restore some pride for Palestine but their late surge was not enough as Pakistan’s pitchers closed out the game.
Pakistan had earlier beaten Sri Lanka in the semifinals, while Palestine reached the apex clash with a win over Bangladesh.
USA’s ambassador to Pakistan Mr Donald Blome distributed prizes amongst the position holders at the conclusion of the contest.
Winning the West Asia Cup Baseball Championship for a sixth time guarantees Pakistan a place in the Asian Baseball Championship alongside Palestine where they will face Chinese Taipei, Japan, South Korea and China.
The tournament determines the qualifiers from Asia which represent the continent in the Baseball World Cup.
India was also supposed to participate in the tournament but had to drop out due to visa issues. It remains to be seen whether they will appear in the next SAG games.
