PONY Japan Baseball Association (PJBA) wishes to strengthen cooperation with and support the development of baseball in Viet Nam, Jin Matsubara, member of the House of Representatives of Japan and President of the association has said.

At the event. (Photo: VNA)

He made the statement at a ceremony to hand over gloves and baseballs to Vietnamese children's baseball clubs in Tokyo recently.

The association is ready to assist Viet Nam's U-14 baseball team including 15 players and three members of the coaching staff to attend the Asia-Pacific PONY Baseball Tournament in 2023, Matsubara said.

He also said that the association is willing to send baseball experts to Viet Nam to support the training of players, coaches and referees at the request of the Vietnamese side, and assist the country in organising such a tournament in the future.

For his part, the Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan Vu Hong Nam highly appreciated the assistance of the PJBA to Viet Nam.

He said baseball in Viet Nam is starting to develop among teenagers, with about 10 clubs set up in schools in several major cities. Last year, Viet Nam established the baseball and softball association for the first time.

At the handover ceremony, the PJBA symbolically presented 300 baseball gloves and 30 boxes of baseball to the Vietnamese Embassy in Japan to transfer to Viet N                                                                                                    am's children baseball clubs. These are baseball gloves sewn by the children of PJBA’s baseball team. 

A memorandum of understanding on cooperation to promote baseball in Vietnam was also signed by Matsubara and the Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan.

PJBA was founded in May 1975, aimed at developing and popularising baseball among youth and strengthening exchange activities among members, turning them into healthy citizens with sports and international spirit.

Source: VNA