The Sri Lanka National Baseball team has automatically qualified for the 2021 XXX BFA Asian Championship which is to be held in December, as the West Asia Baseball Cup for the year 2021 gets canceled due to the prevailing Covid-19 Pandemic.
The news was announced today by the Baseball Federation of Asia (BFA) through a release. They further stated that “As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to grow and affect all around Asia and soar in numbers and international travel restrictions are still in place. BFA has no choice but to take the hard and painful decision to cancel the XV BFA West Asia Cup (WAC) originally to be hosted in Karaj, Iran in September.” This enables Sri Lanka and Pakistan to qualify for the 2021 XXX BFA Asian Championship which is to be held in December.
As the 2020 XIV East Asia Cup was also canceled due to the Pandemic, the same decision will come into play, handing the 2018 XIII BFA East Asia Cup winners, Philippines and the runners up Thailand the opportunity to participate in the 2021 XXX BFA Asian Championship.
Finally, the president of BFA stated that if either team from the West or East reigning withdraws from participating, the team placed next in the ranking from the last tournament will qualify.
The letter from the Baseball Federation of Asia:
