Assam Baseball Association:Hitting home runs

Kaustab Chakraborty speaks to the general secretary of Assam Baseball Association, Dr Ashma Begum about promoting the sport in the state, the association’s achievement so far and its future endeavours

The heart and soul of the USA and one of the oldest and most popular games in the world, Baseball has pitched hard to make its presence felt in several corners of the world including Assam, India. The national sport of the United States of America which is under speculations to be re-included in the Summer Olympics next year, Baseball has had some significant following in the cricket-crazy nation, India where the Indian Baseball team has been ranked 74^th internationally.

Baseball was introduced in India by the Amateur Baseball Federation of India in 1983 with an objective to promote the game and Indian stalwarts of the sports further agreed that the federation should become a member of Asian Baseball Federation and International Baseball Federation (IBF).

But the big swing in Assam was taken in 2009 when the Assam Baseball Association (ABA) was established. Since then it has been five successful years of existence of the association, producing quality players who have not just brought national laurels but some international ones as well.

According to Dr Ashma Begum, general secretary, ABA, although the sport has been around here for some time, it is still a brand new ballgame for the state. “We are just a few years old organization and it would be wrong to say that ABA has been able to popularize the game across the entire length and breadth of the state. It will also be wrong to quote that more and more children have been drawn towards the sport after our initiative as presently we are in our nascent stage and we have lot to grow. In a place like India where cricket is religion, any other sports like baseball will take time to grow,” states Dr Begum.

Nevertheless, even if in a marginal level, Assam has been earning its own share of runs in the game. “I feel proud to say that three Baseball players from Assam have represented India in the Under-14 category of the Asia Pacific Championship, Philippines. One of them was selected as captain and another as vice captain of the team,” adds the physiotherapist.

It is astounding to know that Assam currently has around 400 players and the ABA has even managed to open a Baseball academy in Duliajan, Assam which is run by Oil India Limited.

The ABA general secretary further points out, “We have a team of five expert coaches who are imparting training and knowledge to the players. Our focus always has been on the rural areas of the State and we have been bringing up talents. Other than that, few of the schools in Guwahati have also shown their keen interest in including baseball in their school curriculum. Students from Royal Global School, Sarla Birla Gyan Jyoti Public school, South Point School and few others have been taking up the sports.”

Speaking about various achievements, Dr Ashma says, “In our inaugural National championship in 2010, we reached the quarterfinals. Later in the year, we bagged the 3^rd place in North East Championship, which improved to 2^nd position the following year. Last year, three players from Assam got the opportunity to play in the prestigious Baseball Premier League (BPL) in Hyderabad and this year, three players- Monoj Das, Kulojyoti Baishya and Ranju Ahom- have been selected for the Indian National team trials for the International South Asian Championship, which is scheduled to be held in Pakistan.”

Kulojyoti Baishya, a 17-year-old student from Royal Global School, while talking about his selection for trail camp for the Indian Under-17 & the senior team and narrating his experience, says, “ABA has been very supportive towards me right from scratch. When I took up baseball in my school, my schoolmates used to make fun of me and used to tell me that there is no future for the game here. Initially, it was a problem as I was the odd one out but now I love to be the odd one. My coach and my teammates have encouraged me a lot.  I am practicing hard to get through the trails and get selected to represent India. The best thing about this game is that you have to be active all the time. I aim to take baseball in Assam to such a level that will encourage more and more people to come forward and take up baseball right from a young age.”

In Dr Ashma’s words, the journey so far has been wonderful, even though there have been some unfulfilled wishes. “We wish to produce more and more players but we lack a proper training ground. We are in talks with the sports authorities of Assam regarding a proper ground and equipments. Most of the students don’t come forward to take up baseball because of the high cost of the equipments and their lack of easy availability in the local market,” she notes.

“We have been braving to overcome all the elementary problems, to promote the sport and search for new talents. Hope we succeed in our mission,” she concludes with a smile.