ISF Secretary General Ms. LOW Beng Choo (back row, white shirt) and (next to her) the Ambassador of the Philippines poses with the champion Blu Boys team.

PHILLIPINES TAKES ASEAN CROWN
2009-11-13

Three-and-a-half months ago, the national teams from the Philippines and Indonesia were among the 16 countries participating in the ISF XII Men’s World Championship in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (Canada). However, because those two were not in the same pool, they didn’t meet head-to-head back in July. So, when they tangled on the field in a regional event that wrapped up two weeks ago, it was perhaps the first such meeting since the 8th Asian Men’s Championship three years ago in Japan.

The recent tournament was the 10th South East Asian Men’s Softball Championship, which also included Malaysia, Singapore, and two teams from the event’s host country, Brunei Darussalam. This marked the first time that Brunei hosted a South East Asian softball championship.

Another ‘first’ for them came in that, as a result of a come-from-behind win over Singapore, one of Brunei’s two teams earned the bronze medals, marking their first-ever third place finish.

The title game, though, came down to the two aforementioned teams that were among the participants in the ISF event in Canada earlier this year.

With the score tied at two after six innings, the Philippines scored the eventual game-winning run in the top of the seventh, and then held on as their pitcher struck out three Indonesian batters in a row in the bottom half of the final inning to secure the Championship title.

In conjunction with the tournament, Softball Confederation Asia organized a scorers’ course (23 female participants) and an umpires' course.

Following the success of the Olympic softball competition in Beijing last year, the sport is continuing to thrive all throughout Asia.