July 11, 2002	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 29, 1423

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CHENNAI, July 10: The Indian hockey officials have made it clear that India would not participate in Commonwealth Games in Manchester to be organized between July 25 and Aug 4.

The Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) said it had not been intimated about being invited for the Games, even by the International Hockey Federation (FIH), Indian newspaper The Hindu reported.

There were reports that India might replace Barbados who are unlikely to field their team in the eight-team men’s hockey tournament of the Commonwealth Games.

A senior IHF official, K. Jothikumaran, considered India’s entry a closed chapter as far as the Commonwealth Games was concerned and expressed surprise over the news in a section of the media, related to it through the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).

The official said IOA had clarified that nothing about the men’s team’s participation was discussed recently.

India’s participation was deliberated when Pakistan was allotted the automatic berth from Asia on the basis of its Olympic rankings after Sydney 2000.

The protest that Pakistan was no more part of the Commonwealth after the expulsion was rejected, as it was not applicable to sports contests.

Almost every important segment connected with the Commonwealth Games somehow wanted to include India in the men’s section as to give the hockey event a more competitive edge and spectator appeal in a city like Manchester with a huge Asian population.

Jothikumaran said the Indian team was not preparing for the Manchester event but for the Champions Trophy next month at Cologne and the Asian Games in Busan, South Korea.