Pakistan thrashes Hong Kong in 9th Asia Baseball Cup 2010 Final
Pakistan thrashed Hong Kong by inflicting a crushing 10-0 defeat in the final of the 9th Asia Baseball Cup 2010 at the Pakistan Sports Complex on Monday. Pakistan is ranked as the 31st team in the world while Hong Kong sits at number 18.
Pakistan batters did well throughout the final. Both teams started their first innings vigilantly, making no runs at all. In the second innings, Pakistan batters made two runs to take the lead.
Farooq opened Pakistan’s account with a home run. As the runs began to flow, Asif scored another run, taking the total score to two runs against their opponents. Both the teams failed to score any run in the third and fourth innings.
Pakistani batters humbled their opponents by bouncing back in the fifth and the last innings of the final match. They made the poor Hong Kong fielders run in every corner of the playing field in the hunt for the ball.
In the fifth innings, Pakistan scored a whopping eight runs, with Zubair making a home run while Sumair, Iftikhar, Farooq, Asif, Zaheer, Imtiaz and Usman scoring one run each. Asif Gujjar and Mohammad Farooq were stars for Pakistan, scoring two runs each. The match finished with a final score of 10-0.
Hong Kong players who are part of the number 18th team in the world turned out to be a wall of sand against Pakistan, who are ranked 31st in the world. Earlier on Wednesday Pakistan opened the tournament with a 16-3 drubbing over Thailand at the Pakistan Sports Complex.
Four Asian teams including hosts’ Pakistan, Afghanistan, Hong Kong and Thailand participated in the five-day international tournament. Both Iraq and India dropped out from the tournament at the eleventh hour. The tournament was played on a round-robin league format. Pakistan remained unbeaten all the way throughout the tournament.
In the end, chief guest Shaukat Javed, President of the Pakistan Baseball Federation awarded the players with prizes and cash awards. Mohammad Farooq, the Pakistani batter received the award for the best player of the tournament. Usman was declared the best pitcher of the tournament.
President of the Pakistan Baseball Federation (PBF) Shaukat Javed while praising the home team for winning the Asia Cup for second time declared that Pakistan would participate in the upcoming Asian Games in China this year.
President PBF claimed that the Pakistan Olympic Association would be formally requested for the approval of the participation. He said the victory against a better-ranked team has raised the moral and confidence of the Pakistan team and they were eager to face top teams of the region in the Asian games.
The PBF has contracted a two-year deal with a Korean coach to instruct the local players.
Such is the level of performance that Pakistan has won the title as the best team in Asia for the second time running. Pakistan had finished runners up in the 2009 Asian Baseball Cup held in Bangkok, Thailand.
The winning team has qualified for the next Asian Baseball Championships by winning the title. Pakistan has also earned a berth in the Seniors World Cup to be held next year in the Philippines. This shows that the constant hard work can bring in many laurels for the national teams. Sports in Pakistan a part from cricket have been marred by mismanagement, corruption and intrigue. Despite so much talent in the ranks, the players have found it difficult to compete against the best teams of Asia. However, this marked improvement is largely due to the individual efforts of the Pakistani players. One hopes for the best as Pakistan powers through into the more difficult tournaments after beating an 18th ranked team in the world with a thumping victory.
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