03/02/2021 1 Minute Read

Softball umpires, scorers evaluation held in India to launch national officials education programme

More than 1,000 officials from 27 different states took the exam on 31 January.

The Softball Association of India organised on 31 January the National Level Online Softball Umpire and Scorer exam, aiming to assess the current development of the officials in the country. A total 653 umpires and 359 scorers completed the evaluation.

Congratulations to all Umpires and Scorers who have appeared in the test..#softballumpire #softballscorer #indiakhelgasoftball @WBSC @WBSCPresident @WBSC_SG_Beng @Baseball5 @slabsa1 @NBSA_Nepal @NeetalNarang @iranasodhi @dave_pravin @JSAteamJAPAN pic.twitter.com/xamD5rmyTx
— Softball Association of India (@SoftballIndia) February 3, 2021

The programme was officially announced on 16 January with the opening of registration. All the states and districts were encouraged to get their umpires and scorers registered for the online evaluation. In all, 1,346 officials (923 umpires and 423 scorers) enrolled for the examination from 27 different state and affiliated units of Softball India, including experienced and new officials.

On 31 January, all the participants received a link with the exam with two hours to submit the answers. A total of 1,012 of the registered officials completed the test.

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This is the first online examination conducted in the country with all the states and authorities affiliated to Softball India. Country-wide education and training for umpires, scorers, players and grassroot level coaches will be the next step to develop softball in India.

India has participated in five WBSC Softball World Championships so far. They made their debut at the 2012 WBSC (ISF) Junior Men’s Softball World Championship, finishing 12th. The nation also played the 2016 WBSC Women’s Softball World Championship (29th place), the 2017 Junior Women's Softball World Championship (22nd place), the 2017 Men’s Softball World Championship 2017 (15th place), and the Junior Men’s Softball World Championship 2018, where India finished in ninth place, their best position ever. India’s ace Gaurav Chaudari was one of the stars of the tournament played in Prince Albert, Canada.