Palestine defeat Pakistan to win West Asia Baseball Cup
World No. 46 Palestine defeated No. 38 Pakistan in the final, 5-4, to claim a historic win in the West Asia Baseball Cup. Yasin Ramsey walked the game off in the bottom of the 10th when he turned a 1-2 pitch by reliever Arif Ahmad into a sacrifice fly to centre field, scoring the tie-break runner Tariq Suboh from third.
The championship game proved to be a thriller. Palestine took a 4-2 lead into the ninth and came within two outs of the win. Muhammad Tariq doubled and scored on a base hit by leadoff hitter Hussain Hussain. Pakistan bunted Hussain to third, and the third baseman scored on a throwing error.
Despite 130 pitches on his arm, left-hander David Powres went back to Palestine's mound for the top of the 10th. Pakistan bunted the tie-break runners to third and second, and Powres intentionally loaded the bases. He got the second out on strikes and got out of the inning by covering the first base bag on a grounder to the right side.
Powres struck out 13 over 10 innings, allowing eight hits and three walks and earning a heroic win.
Palestine and Pakistan qualified for the BFA XXXI Asian Baseball Championship, a WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup Qualifier. The host nation, Iran, defeated No. 69 India in the bronze-medal game, 6-3, and claimed third place.
The Standings
- Palestine
- Pakistan
- Iran
- India
- Sri Lanka
- Bangladesh
- Afghanistan
The Baseball Federation of Asia (BFA) launched the Asian Baseball Cup in 1995 in Manila, Philippines, as a qualifier for the Asian Baseball Championship. The tournament was split into the West Asia and East Asia Baseball Cups in 2012
Before the 2025 edition, Pakistan (2012, 2013, 2015 and 2023) and Sri Lanka (2017 and 2019) were the only West Asia Baseball Cup winners and competed in the final in four previous editions. Iran lost the final against Pakistan in 2015. Iran also earned three bronze medals in 2012, 2015, and 2017. The other third-place finishers are Afghanistan (2013) and India (2015 and 2019)
The Philippines won the last edition of the East Asia Baseball Cup in November 2024.