Security fears may keep Oz out of Lahore meet

The Pakistan Hockey Federation has said there were serious doubts over the participation of Olympic Champions Australia...

The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has said there were serious doubts over the participation of Olympic Champions Australia in this year’s Champions Trophy to be held in Lahore in December.

“We have seen media reports about the Australian team being insecure about coming to Pakistan. But the international hockey federation (FIH) has not told us anything,” said Khalid Mahmood, secretary of the PHF.

He said that the PHF was hoping that if the Australian cricket team cleared their tour to Pakistan early next year, the same would be the case with the hockey players.

But Mahmood made it clear that Pakistan could only give security assurances to the Australians to a certain extent. “Lahore is as safe or as risky as New York, Amsterdam or Peshawar. Bomb blasts can happen at any place, anytime but we are always made the scapegoats,” he said. He defended the decision of the federation not to play in the Asia Cup tournament in India in September where all the top Asian sides have confirmed their appearance.

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