There are several sports in India which have never come into the mainstream arena or for some reasons got the kind of attention other sports have received; Baseball is certainly one such sport. The beginning of Baseball in India dates back to the period of the Second World War, where the North-eastern state of Manipur learnt the nuances of the game from the stranded US Army.
The game still remains very prominent in Manipur with associations like Structured Baseball Federation. Further, the Amateur Baseball Federation of India was established in 1983 followed by India’s first National Baseball Championship in 1985 in New Delhi. India’s first ball park; the only regulation-size baseball ground ‘The Field of Dreams’ was built by a Baseball enthusiast Raunaq Sahni in 2017. However Baseball failed to gain as much popularity.
Despite the odds one individual who is set on the path of getting glory to the country by virtue of his talent and passion for Baseball is ‘Vikram Goudar’. The Belgaum, born engineering graduate form Bangalore had his first experience with the sport during his engineering days while he watched the college team play. He was instantly attracted towards the game and was quick to interact with some of his friends, who were already part of the college team to allow him to try his hands at the game.
Vikram’s talent was initially nurtured by his coach Harsha Gowda who encouraged him to be the pitcher and play for the college team. Vikram was swift to pick the fine details of the game, eventually ending up being the main stay of the college Baseball and Softball team.
In his debut year, his college went on to win the VTU Inter-collegiate single zone softball tournament 2017-18 and ending up second position in the VTU inter zone softball tournament in the same year. They further followed it up by winning the Caspian inter collegiate baseball tournament 2018 with Vikram being awarded the best softball player of Sir MVIT annual college sports meet (2017-18).
This was just the beginning to Vikram’s virtue en rooting him to further show his talent in various club tournaments across Bangalore winning him many recognition’s and prizes. Vikram was further selected for MSPL (Mysuru softball premier League) and got bid to MYSURU TIGERS team who were the Runners up 2019.The tournament was also instrumental as seven players got selected to represent India in the 3rd UPM International Baseball Championship 2019 in Malaysia with Vikram being one of them.
Vikram narrates that “Though baseball is not the most sought after career option in India, the game will certainly push you to concentrate on fitness and lead a healthy life”.
Presently Vikram is training for the Combined Defence Services examination to be held in November and aspiring to join Defence services. He is positive of playing for the National team if he gets an opportunity in the coming years.
