Palestine placed in Group A of West Asia Baseball Cup

Palestine’s Baseball & Softball Federation will play against India, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka during group play of the West Asia Baseball Cup in Karaj, Iran. Group B will have three teams—Bangladesh, Pakistan and the host country.

After group play, two teams from each side will advance to the playoffs where the champion will be decided. Pakistan (38) and Palestine (46) are the highest ranked teams in the tournament and are expected to have a rematch of the 2023 West Asia Cup final in Islamabad.

Nepal, which participated in the last West Asia Cup, is not scheduled to participate this time around. Iran, which is unranked, did not participate the last time this tournament was held.

Typically, the teams that finish first and second at the West Asia Cup are invited to participate in the Asian Baseball Championships, so the stakes are high and teams like Sri Lanka—who won the West Asia Cup in 2019— and India should not be overlooked.

After finishing in second place in 2023’s West Asia Cup, Palestine earned a place at the Asian Baseball Championships in Taiwan later that year. Palestine won two of five games it played, which helped boost their ranking.

They defeated Hong Kong in their opening game 3-1 and then closed out the tournament with a 4-0 win against Thailand.

The 16th edition of the West Asia Baseball Cup is scheduled to begin May 15th and conclude on the 21st. The schedule of games has not been released.