LAHORE
\nPakistan are likely to miss the upcoming Men\u2019s Asian Hockey Champions Trophy in India after the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) declined to send the national team over security concerns, sources said on Thursday.
\nBangladesh are likely to replace Pakistan in the six-team tournament, with the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) expected to formally announce the decision on Friday, the sources said.
\nIndia are scheduled to host the tournament from October 27 to November 5, with matches set to be played in Jalandhar and Mohali. Bangladesh are reportedly being considered as Pakistan\u2019s replacement in the six-team competition.
\nThe PHF had requested that the tournament be moved to a neutral venue or that Pakistan\u2019s matches be played at a neutral venue. However, Hockey India rejected the request, insisting that there would be no change to the tournament\u2019s schedule or venues.
\nThe PHF had also informed the AHF that, given the prevailing circumstances, it was not willing to send the national team to India for the tournament.
\nPHF President Mohyuddin Ahmad Wani said the decision was taken in view of the sensitive bilateral situation and security concerns between the two countries, with the safety and dignity of national players and officials remaining the federation\u2019s priority.
\nWani reiterated Pakistan\u2019s commitment to the Asian Champions Trophy and the development of hockey, saying the national team remained ready to compete against all FIH member nations, including India. He also stressed the importance of keeping sport separate from politics.
\nThe development came a day after Indian Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann confirmed that Pakistan was expected to participate in the Asian Champions Trophy.
\nHe said India\u2019s policy allows neighbouring countries to compete in multinational sporting events, while bilateral series between India and Pakistan remain restricted.
\n\u201cThere is no problem in multinational tournaments. Maybe individual series between India and Pakistan cannot take place,\u201d Mann said when asked about the necessary clearances for Pakistan\u2019s participation.
\nThe Asian Champions Trophy is organised under the aegis of the Asian Hockey Federation and has traditionally been held annually, although no edition was staged last year.
\nIndia will enter the tournament as defending champions after winning the 2023 edition in Chennai and successfully retaining the title in 2024 in Hulunbuir, China.
\nFor the unversed, Pakistan had also withdrawn from the Junior World Cup hockey tournament in Tamil Nadu last year, citing heightened tensions between the two countries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LAHORE Pakistan are likely to miss the upcoming Men\u2019s Asian Hockey Champions Trophy in India after the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) declined to send the national team over security concerns, sources said on Thursday. Bangladesh are likely to replace Pakistan in the six-team tournament, with the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) expected to formally announce the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":104116,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104106"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104106\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104131,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104106\/revisions\/104131"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}