Palestine is making history at the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games, taking part in the men’s baseball tournament for the first time. The 20th edition of the Games officially opened in Japan this weekend, with Palestine joining a competitive Group A alongside baseball powerhouses Japan, China, and the Philippines.
The team opened its campaign on September 21 at Toyohashi Municipal Baseball Stadium, facing the Philippines in its first-ever Asian Games baseball match. Palestine fell 12-0 after seven innings, with the Philippines taking control of the game early and eventually sealing the win with a pair of big innings.
Despite the result, there was a small highlight for Palestine in the sixth inning. Philippine pitcher Romeo Jasmin Jr. had kept the team hitless through five innings before Hasan Ammar broke up the no-hitter with a bunt single.
From Gaza to the Asian Games
While Palestine’s appearance in Japan may be a new chapter, the national baseball team itself has been building its story for almost a decade.
The first steps toward creating a Palestinian national baseball team were taken in Gaza around 2017. At the time, the team was tiny, with just a handful of players learning and developing the sport in a place where baseball was far from established. Palestinian-origin players from the United States later joined the team, helping it grow and compete internationally.
That development was made even more difficult by the war in Gaza, which has prevented many homegrown players from taking part in international competitions. As a result, Palestinian-American players have come to make up a larger part of the national team, while players based in Gaza have been unable to travel and compete.
The team has also experienced devastating losses. National team captain and outfielder Ashraf Awad Murad was killed in Gaza in March 2024. In August 2025, 21-year-old infielder and outfielder Mustafa Ahmad Tafesh was also killed in an Israeli airstrike near his home in Gaza. Tafesh had been part of the Palestinian team that competed in the 2023 West Asia Baseball Cup, its first appearance in the competition.
A Rapid Rise on the International Stage
Despite it all, Palestine’s baseball journey has continued to move forward.
The team made its first appearance at the West Asia Baseball Cup in 2023, reaching the final and finishing as runners-up. That same year, Palestine also made its debut at the Asian Baseball Championship, finishing seventh.
Then came a breakthrough in 2025. Palestine won its first West Asia Baseball Cup title, defeating Pakistan 5-4 in the final in Karaj, Iran. The victory marked the team’s first international title and helped secure its place at the 2025 Asian Baseball Championship.
Palestine finished fifth at the 2025 Asian Baseball Championship, continuing a rise that has taken the team from a small group of players in Gaza to competing on some of Asia’s biggest baseball stages.
Now, that journey has reached another milestone in Japan. Palestine’s Asian Games debut may have started with a difficult result, but simply stepping onto the field in Aichi-Nagoya marks another historic chapter for a national team that has spent less than a decade building its place in international baseball.
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