The Pakistan Sports Board this past week announced a ban on Syed Fakhar Ali Shah, secretary general of the Pakistan Baseball Federation, for failing to obtain the required No Objection Certificate before international travel.
Federations under the Pakistan Sports Board’s jurisdiction must secur ea NOC prior to competing abroad. According to reports, the Pakistan Baseball Federation traveled to Malaysia without approval, and had also done so in August for the Under-15 Asia Baseball Cup in Taiwan.
The decision follows a series of compliance issues involving the federation. Pakistan was previously denied an NOC and unable to travel to Taiwan for the 2024 U18 Asian Championship. Reports have also alleged that forged NOCs were used in past years to allow the team to compete internationally.
Shah, who was recently elected president of the South Baseball and Softball Federation, inherited his leadership role within the Pakistan Baseball Federation from his father. The ban prohibits him from organizing any international tournaments or receiving financial grants and government facilities.
In an interview with Pakistan media outlet Dawn, Shah defended his actions, saying, “Except for only one Asian Under-15 event, which was also the qualifying round for the World Cup, the Pakistan Federation Baseball asked for the PSB’s NOC for four other events, but only got for two events.”
He also cited the lengthy approval process as a key challenge. “The PSB requires eight weeks to get the NOC, but as baseball is a team sport we have to complete the documents of 25 to 30 members’ squads, and it is not possible to complete all the requirements of the PSB eight weeks in advance,” Shah said.
The controversy marks another setback for Pakistan baseball, which has struggled with administrative and performance challenges in recent years. After earning surprise invitations to the World Baseball Classic qualifiers for the 2017 and 2023 editions, Pakistan was not invited to the most recent cycle. Earlier this year, the team was defeated by Palestine in the West Asia Cup final.
Pakistan once reached as high as No. 22 in the World Baseball Softball Confederation world rankings in 2022 but plummeted to No. 49 by November 2023 amid missed tournaments and federation turmoil.
With the federation announcing plans for a new national baseball stadium expected to open in 2028, optimism had been growing around the sport’s development. However, the ban of one of its top officials, combined with inconsistent performances and governance issues, has slowed that momentum
Photo: Pakistan’s national baseball team. (Courtesy of the WBSC)
