December 14, 2001	Friday	Ramazan 28, 1422

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

LAHORE, Dec 13: The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has not yet taken any decision regarding awarding the 25th Champions Trophy to Pakistan as compensation for the 23rd edition.

Pakistan was to host the 23rd Champions Trophy in November this year, but it had been shifted to Holland due to security reasons in the wake of the Sept 11 air attacks on United States.

England has been awarded the 25th Champions Trophy to be held in 2003. 

But Pakistan is interested to host it to recover the financial losses which it suffered due to sudden change of the venue from Lahore to Rotterdam (Holland).

The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has submitted a formal request to the FIH to allot the 25th edition to Pakistan.

The 24th Champions Trophy has been allotted to Germany and will be held in 2002.

A PHF official said FIH competition committee and the executive board had forwarded its recommendation to the FIH president on Pakistan’s request for compensation.

The negotiations were under way between the FIH president and England about the fate of the 25th Champions Trophy, he said.

The PHF official said that he was expecting a decision on the matter last week, but no information has been received as yet.

When asked about the chances of a decision in Pakistan favour, the PHF official said that it was premature to say any thing at this stage.