April 22, 2007	Sunday	Rabi-us-Sani 04, 1428

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KARACHI, April 21: Two International Hockey Federation (FIH) inspectors left Lahore on Friday after visiting National Hockey Stadium which is scheduled to host Champions Trophy from Dec 1 to 9.

Events Manager FIH, Dennis Meredith, and Manager Communications FIH, Arjen Meijer were on a three-day visit to Lahore to inspect the facilities for the elite six-nation tournament instituted by Pakistan.

Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) secretary Khalid Mahmood said the two officials who were in the Punjab city from April 18 to 20 were satisfied with the facilities for the prestigious event to be participated by Australia, Spain, Germany, South Korea, the Netherlands and Pakistan.

“It was a very positive trip. I believe the (FIH) officials were happy to see the facilities. They expressed satisfaction after inspecting the two pitches, facilities for spectators and media at the stadium. I hope we will get a very positive feedback,” the PHF official said.

Khalid said the FIH pair were also briefed about the security to be provided to the participating teams during the event.

The former Pakistan captain was positive that PHF would get a green signal from the FIH for hosting the event.

Security has always been a problem for foreign teams, especially Europeans. Australia had pulled out of Trophy in 2005 citing security fears as the reason. FIH had shifted Lahore’s 2001 event to Amstelveen because of safety concerns following Sept 11 terror attacks in New York and Washington and a possible US attack on neighbouring Afghanistan.