Eva Moo Yee Wah, was the rose among thorns among the umpires for the U18 Men Asia Cup which ended on Sunday and will continue to stand out in the Men Softball Asia Cup which started today at the at the Kochi Softball Fields at Kochi Athletic Recreation Park, Haruno.
The former baseball umpire, was the only woman umpire in the U18 tournament and the Men’s Asia Cup, among the 12 umpires officiating.
Eva, a mother of two sons, was making her international debut umpiring in the U18 and judging by her performance, she was holding court well and made good and accurate decisions.
Although she expects the going to be tougher when umpiring the Men’s tournament as compared as the U18, she was excited and welcomed the challenge.
“There is no easy games to officiate. Be it a junior or adult game, the umpiring is the same, as we apply the same rules and without any biasness and exercising fairness to follow the book of rules strictly,” said the energetic and vibrant Eva.
“Besides, I see every game as the same, be it men and women I am umpiring. I believe that umpiring has no gender. We umpires just officiate a game and do not look at the gender. The rules are the same
“I enjoy every minute was umpiring in the U18 and now looking forward to my second international tournament umpiring the men.
“I get good support from my men umpires and make me feel at home and comfortable. In fact, umpiring with men is a learning curve for me.”
Asked about her age, Eva smiled and just said: “It is a secret.”
Eva took to softball umpiring during the Covid-19 pandemic when she started learn more about softball and sat for the Softball Asia umpiring last year.
As a baseball umpire, she has been umpiring for the last eight years and at international level for six years.
“I still do umpire baseball games, but with my new found love for umpiring softball, I may end up doing more softball games.”
Eva said that baseball and softball umpiring may seem almost similar, but said that there were differences.
“The mechanism to softball umpiring differs although calls are similar.
“But I am comfortable umpiring both baseball and softball and do not have a preference.
“I am a athletic person who loves running and loves to keep fit,” when asked about athletic figure.
“And with my kids grown up and having quite a bit of free time on my hands, softball has kept me occupied.”
Eva said that she is going to try and get as much as possible with assignment with Softball Asia and eventually sit for WBSC certification.
“I am looking at moving up to the higher level in softball and eventually do WBSC tournaments. It may take some time for me to gather the experience through more exposure, but I am going to work hard at it to umpire at the World level one day.”
Eva is certainly here to stay.