The Asia Cup

The upcoming Aisa Cup is scheduled for the end of May this year, in Islamabad, Pakistan. It is not, however, what you would think of when you typically talk about Asian baseball. Because Japan, South Korea and Taiwan are not participating. Instead, the following countries will be there:

Sri Lanka
Hong Kong
Thailand
Iraq
Afghanistan
Iran
Pakistan

I guess Hong Kong has a status kind of like Puerto Rico. Didn't know that, so it's a good thing to learn. To me, this is a real Asian Cup. Not to say that the big 3 aren't Asian countries, but the fact that these 7 countries are participating in an international tournament is a good thing for baseball.

For those of you who don't pay attention to international news, Sri Lanka, Iraq, Afghanistan, Thailand, Iran, and Pakistan all have a lot of internal and external issues going on. The fact that they can still field baseball teams for the Cup is great. It would be nice to get the Philippines involved as well, particularly since 8 teams is always better than 7.

The main point is, baseball is growing in Asia rapidly, and most people wouldn't even know that these countries play baseball, let alone participate internationally. I'm not going to pretend like the quality of play will awe anyone, but I'll bet they play some good games. It would be worthwhile for some scouts to get out there and see what the players can do. I'll bet they can fiind talent.

Thanks to the Sri Lanka News for the link