KARACHI, Dec 19: India has refused to play alongside Pakistan in next month’s six-nation hockey event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, sources said Wednesday.

“India has pulled out from the six-nation event without giving any reason. But the apparent reason for their withdrawal is that they don’t want to play alongside Pakistan as tensions heighten between the South Asian rivals,” sources told SADA.

The organizers had confirmed last week that India would be one of the six teams alongside reigning Olympic and world champions Holland, Pakistan, Australia, Malaysia and New Zealand in the event scheduled to be held from Jan 20-27.

The teams will play a round-robin preliminary round and the top two teams will contest the final.

The tournament has been arranged by the Malaysian Hockey Federation to provide the national team with quality practice matches ahead of the World Cup Finals, which will be held here from February 24 to March 9.

Malaysian organizers said they would not seek a sixth team after India’s pullout.

Pakistan and India have had few sporting contacts in the last two years. Cricket has been the worst hit sport.

India refused to take a Test tour of Pakistan in December last year, pulled out its team from the Asian Test Championship in September and did not play Pakistan in multi-national events in Sharjah and Canada.

India alleges that Pakistan is fomenting trouble in Indian-administered Kashmir. India blamed Pakistan for harboring last week’s attack on its parliament that left 12 people dead and has threatened to attack parts of Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

The fortunes of eight-time Olympic champion India have revived with the country’s triumph at the Junior World Cup in September. The senior team won the Champions League in Kuala Lumpur last week.—SADA