Hyderabad, April 25 (Agency) Ramachandra Reddy was unanimously elected as the President of Baseball Federation of India (BFI) at the Annual General Body Meeting held here on Saturday. L Rajender, ex-International player was elected as General Secretary and T Padmanabhan as Treasurer along with other executive members from across the country, a release here said on Monday. Speaking on the occasion, Reddy said that with the support of all State Governments and Union Government besides Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur he will work for encouraging the sport. He also assured to work as a team to achieve all the initiatives and future endeavors discussed in the General Body Meeting in promoting the game and bring laurels to the federation in particular and Indian Sports in general.
The new BFI President said that the Baseball fraternity in the country includes ex-International & National players to form a platform to develop the game as desired in tune with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS). About 20 State Associations in the country congregated at Hyderabad and formed the Baseball Federation of India (BFI). He said in the recent years the Indian sports development includes sports other than cricket, and have taken substantial traction and garnered much needed impetus from all the stakeholders involved. The recent success of India at the Tokyo Olympics 2020, have shown that India has the appetite to take on sports other than cricket, which are not only globally played but are not yet popular in India. The MYAS has taken up the onus to safeguard the interest of the athletes who are in serious dilemma due to the de-recognition of their federations, and are unable to participate in important international tournaments, which is not only an obstruction to their own career, but also hinders India’s path towards becoming a successful sports country, Reddy added.