Jalandhar: The Asian Hockey Champions Trophy is scheduled to be held in Jalandhar and Mohali, Punjab, from October 27 to November 5. Pakistan was originally among the six participating nations, but the country has now been dropped from the tournament after refusing to send its hockey team to India. Bangladesh has been included in its place.
Pakistan was initially scheduled to compete in the tournament but had demanded that the event be held in a neutral country instead of India. However, the Asian Hockey Federation rejected the demand and made it clear to Pakistan that its team would have to travel to India for the competition.
As Pakistan is now unwilling to send its team to India, it has been removed from the tournament, with Bangladesh taking its place.
The six participating nations in the Asian Hockey Champions Trophy are India, Japan, China, Malaysia, South Korea and Bangladesh.
Taking Pakistan’s position into account, the Asian Hockey Federation and Hockey India had already considered Bangladesh and Oman as reserve teams.
As in cricket, India and Pakistan have not played a bilateral hockey series since 2008.
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