Hanshin Tigers president Katsuyoshi Nozaki called on four other Central League clubs Thursday to join forces in resisting a move toward a shift to a one-league system in Japanese professional baseball.

Nozaki unveiled a plan to meet separately with top officials of the Yakult Swallows, Yokohama BayStars, Chunichi Dragons and Hiroshima Carp to draft a joint agreement against the move and submit it to a July 26 executive committee meeting of Japanese professional baseball.

"We want to work on feasible and practical proposals such as the introduction of interleague games," Nozaki said, noting that the four teams have already accepted his offer to hold talks aimed at keeping the current two-league format.

"This may lead to a clash of opinion with the (Yomiuri) Giants. But hopefully we will put forward proposals capable of maintaining the two-league system for co-existence and co-prosperity of all teams," Nozaki said.