KARACHI, Feb 4: Three times Olympic and four times World Champions Pakistan and Australia are kept apart in this year’s Commonwealth Games hockey tournament in the UK, reports received here said Monday.

Pakistan is pitted against hosts England, Wales and Canada in the hockey com-petition of the Games to be held in Manchester in July-August.

Australia won the gold medal in the last games held in Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur in 1998, beating hosts Malaysia in the final.

Pakistan even failed to qualify for the 1998 semifinals. Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Barbados are placed in the other pool.

Pakistan hockey team, buoyed after its success in the six-nation event in Malaysia last month, is gearing up for tenth World Cup to be staged in Kuala Lumpur from Feb 24.

Pakistan opens up its Commonwealth Games campaign by playing England on July 26 before taking on Wales. It would end its league campaign against Canada.

The XVII Commonwealth Games will see 72 nations competing in 17 disciplines from July 25 to Aug 4, 2002.

The hockey competition includes an innovative new match schedule.

Pool winners will now qualify automatically for the semifinals.

However, the second and third placed teams in each pool will play crossover matches to determine which team will meet the semifinalists.

This extra round will give an added incentive to finish top in a pool.

It will also mean that all the teams will retain the chance of progressing on to the final throughout the first stage of the competition.

The action starts with five days of preliminary round games from July 26, followed by the final stage from July 31 to Aut 4.

Pakistan will also compete in squash, swimming, boxing, athletics, table tennis and weightlifting.

Meanwhile, nearly thirty probables are attending a camp at Lahore preparing for the World Cup hockey. —SADA