July 25, 2007	Wednesday	Rajab 09, 1428

SYDNEY, July 24: Australia's hockey authorities said Tuesday their decision to pull out of the men's Champion's Trophy this year would have an impact on preparations for the Kookaburras' Olympic title defence.

Hockey Australia (HA) has declined an invitation to play in the year's major hockey tournament in Pakistan in December because of security fears.

“It's going to have an impact on our Beijing preparations,” said HA chief executive Linden Adamson.

“It's a pretty serious decision to take if we think it's going to affect our Olympic preparations, but we can't risk the safety of the players and staff.

“It was a board decision ... the players and coaching staff have been made aware of it and at this stage I haven't heard any adverse reaction to it.”Adamson said the board had made the decision based on foreign ministry advice against travelling in Pakistan.

Pakistan's hockey authorities said they believed Australia's decision was premature.

“We see it as disappointing because Australia are the world's top team,”said Pakistan Hockey Federation spokesman Altaf Sabir.

“We regret this decision and feel that it is premature. There is enough time until December and in the next four months things would have gone better,”Sabir said.

“But we can't do much when they have taken a decision on their government's advice,” he said.—AFP