US baseball project launched in India with Manipur as main center

Imphal, Nov 5 (UNI) Major League Baseball International (MLBI) , First Pitch today launched the US Manipur Baseball Project named ''First Pitch'' at the Khuman Lampak stadium here.

The United States Embassy in India has sent top level baseball coaches to host a month-long series of baseball camps throughout India, set to begin today at ''Camp Manipur'' in Imphal.

Over 100 players and 30 local coaches are expected to participate.

Two longtime participants in MLBI's Envoy Program, Jeff Brueggemann and David Palese are camping at Imphal to train the coaches for ten days.

Palese is an assistant baseball coach at Rochester University in New York and has conducted coaching camps and clinics in Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines. Brueggemann was a pitcher for six years with the Minnesota Twins and has coached the Chinese Junior National Team.

Muriel Peters, one of the founders of First Pitch, said the coaching programme will be done in seven cities of India with Manipur as the main center. With the talents available in Manipur it is possible that some players may play in the international circuit, she added.

A fund raising campaign was conducted at the United States and donors have given bats and other equipment not available in India.

With the assistance of the United States Embassy all the equipment have been brought to Imphal. The two coaches will coach local coach so that they could work at the grass root level.

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