Malaysia gets Champions Trophy

Hot on the heels of a hunger strike threat by hockey players - that yielded in the Karnataka government’s announcing Rs 2 lakh per each...

Hot on the heels of a hunger strike threat by hockey players – that yielded in the Karnataka government’s announcing Rs 2 lakh per each of its state players and civil aviation minister Praful Patel promising promotions – comes bad news.

The Indian Hockey Federation’s ambition of hosting the Champions Trophy, after it was yanked off Lahore by the international hockey federation (FIH), was stubbed out with the announcement that the meet has now been allotted to Malaysia.

In a statement, FIH president Els van Breda Vriesman stated: “We are happy that the Malaysian Hockey Confederation was able to accept the responsibility to host this important event. We know that time for the preparation is short, but we are confident that the Champions Trophy will be a success under the organisation of Malaysia.”

The event will be played at the National Hockey Stadium, Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur, the same venue as the 2002 men’s World Cup from November 29 until December 9.

India, as well as Malaysia had agreed to host the event after the FIH decided that it was impossible to have the event in Lahore after security concerns had forced many teams to pull out.

Media reports in Malaysia had claimed that the organisers there had proposed to make the stay of the participating teams free and that this may have been the reason for Malaysia winning the bid however no confirmation was made either from the IHF or FIH.

With Malaysia as new host the tournament will be expanded to eight teams – the six original participants Australia, Germany, Korea, Netherlands, Pakistan and Spain will be joined by the host Malaysia and Britain.

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FIH stated that it decided to invite Pakistan to participate as some compensation for the disappointment of not being able to host the tournament.

“This is a fair and just outcome taking all factors into account and ensures the top teams in the world will be able to utilize the tournament as part of their preparations for the Beijing Olympic Games,” Vriesman added.