TOKYO - With the help of Japan, home to legendary players Ichiro Suzuki and Shohei Ohtani, baseball has gradually gained a foothold in Sri Lanka, a South Asian country better known for its passion for cricket.
At last month's Under-18 Asian Baseball Championship in Taipei, Sri Lanka finished second to last out of eight participants. However, coach Hiroto Furuya, a Japanese national, believes the Sri Lankan team has steadily improved.
"The team could not quite hold on in the preliminary round," Furuya, 29, said, citing games against Japan, which finished second in the tournament, and Taiwan and the Philippines, which were third and fourth, respectively.
"Still, the players fought without giving up until the end, and their athletic ability and passion for baseball are extremely high,"
Furuya told Kyodo News. "I would like to raise their playing level so they can rank among the top teams at Asian international tournaments."
South Korea won the Sept. 7-13 tournament, while Singapore finished in last place.
Following the tournament, Japan, which beat Sri Lanka 27-0 in the opening round, donated 150 baseballs to the Sri Lankan team. "We hope you will use them to practice," the Japanese team said.
Amid a chronic shortage of equipment and coaches, Furuya has been coaching the Sri Lankan team since June as a volunteer for the Japan International Cooperation Agency, a governmental agency that delivers the bulk of Japan's assistance to support social and economic growth in developing countries.
Reflecting on his four-month stint in the Indian Ocean state, Furuya said, "There are no stores selling baseball equipment in Sri Lanka, and donations from Japanese teams, individuals and JICA are our biggest lifeline."
As part of its efforts to promote baseball, JICA sends volunteers to Latin America, Asia and Africa. In Asia, JICA launched its initiative in the Philippines in 1970, and since then, it has provided coaching in Thailand, Cambodia, and Malaysia and sent volunteers to Sri Lanka.
Sri Lankans were initially slow to adopt baseball because of the popularity of cricket in their country, which was heavily influenced by Britain as its former colonial ruler.
But thanks in part to Japanese volunteers, baseball is currently played in Sri Lanka by about 4,000 students at roughly 35 schools in more than 20 cities and regions, including Colombo and Kandy, according to the Sri Lanka Baseball Softball Association. Girls' baseball is also played, with 300 players active at six schools, the association said.
JICA volunteers have supported the development of baseball in Sri Lanka, helping the national team achieve a historic win at the 2017 West Asia Baseball Cup in Pakistan. In the final, Sri Lanka defeated the host team, Pakistan, 4-2, to secure its first title.
Recalling more than 20 years of promotional activity in Sri Lanka, Shinji Yamaguchi, a volunteer program officer at the JICA Sri Lanka Office, said, "What became the first baseball field in South Asia was built here in 2012 with Japanese aid."
"The field is used by the Under-18 team and for games involving other teams," Yamaguchi said. "The field is a symbol of Sri Lanka as an emerging baseball nation."
