December 4, 2001	Tuesday	Ramazan 18, 1422

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

KARACHI, Dec 3: The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has decided not to have changes in the game’s rules until next year’s World Cup in Kuala Lumpur, an official said Monday.

Islahuddin Siddique, a member of the Hockey Rules Board, who attended the 25-26 Nov meeting of the Board in Brussels, said the one of the three trial rules would also be tried after the World Cup.

“The rule to be tried after World Cup will be enhancing of the goal-scoring area. It will be tried during an international tournament after the World Cup,” he said.

The three rules tried were, enhancing of the scoring area to 23-metre, presence of only eight defenders inside 25-yard line during the field play, and only eight defenders during the penalty corners.

The FIH had asked 28 countries for the feedback of the three rules to be tried. Five countries have submitted their recommendations so far, including Pakistan, India, the Netherlands, Germany, and Australia.

Brig M.H. Atif (retd), a former secretary of the Pakistan Hockey Federation, and the chairman of Hockey Rules Board, didn’t chair the moot owing to personal commitments.