FIH pulls meet out of Lahore

The International Hockey Federation today dealt a blow to aspirations of the Pakistan Hockey Federation , shifting the Champions Trophy out of Lahore.

The FIH (international hockey federation) today dealt a blow to aspirations of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), shifting the Champions Trophy out of Lahore. Even as the PHF rued the decision, Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) officials were licking their lips with the prospect of hosting the event.

An indication to this effect came about when IHF secretary-general K Jothikumaran, speaking to The Indian Express from Chennai, said, “we will go all out now for the bid.”

He, however, confirmed that if India get to host the Champions Trophy, it would be held in Chennai: “We have a ready-made one available in Chennai where we held the Asia Cup successfully and the FIH officials know about it.”

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Jothikumaran also said that a move to another venue in India would entail FIH officials’ visit to approve the place. “We don’t have the time for all that,” he said, adding, “We will try and impress upon the FIH to allot the event to Chennai because Malaysia, too, had evinced interest.”

Though the PHF had been making all efforts to retain the event in Lahore, FIH decided otherwise because of security concerns which prompted Australia and Spain to pull out of the six-nation tournament (December 1 to 9). “It was an extremely hard decision and one that we took with many regrets for the Pakistan hockey community,” FIH president Els van Breda Vriesman said.

The PHF has expressed disappointment over the decision, as secretary Khalid Mahmood said: “It is a big letdown for Pakistan hockey.

“We can understand the position of the FIH because of the way participating teams reacted to playing in Lahore. But we were very keen to host the event,” he told news agencies in Karachi.