Indo-Pak Hockey Series expected to be held in Pakistan this year – Hockey News
The Indian Men’s hockey team is expected to tour to Pakistan later this year. The tour will feature a friendly series between both arch-rivals after the 2011 Champions Trophy that is to be held in New Delhi, India from November 26 to December 4.
Recently, there were talks about hockey between India and Pakistan after the cancellation of the Dubai Indo-Pak series in the last couple of months. The only cause for intervals in such a mighty collision had been the decision of a centre place for holding
such event, instead of playing across borders of both countries.
This centre place was usually Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). However, Dubai is no longer neutral since Hockey India (HI) and Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) thought over the possibility of playing mutual series in India, a few days ago.
This matter picked up pace after a green signal from the Union Sports Ministry on condition to take an approval from the Ministry of External Affairs and the respective country’s Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The ministry stated the fact that security and political clearances are a must. As soon as these are attained, the series can get going.
Secretaries of both the country’s sport body, Narinder Batra of HI and Asif Bajwa of PHF, have confirmed that they have been in touch with one another.
Batra reported, "We have been discussing this point for many months now. This time, we were discussing the idea of holding the series in the two countries, particularly after the meeting in Mohali between the two prime ministers and the news that there may
be an India cricket tour of Pakistan."
Additionally, Bajwa in Karachi was also found stating that the Indian hockey team will visit Pakistan after the 2011 Champions Trophy in India in November. It is also expected that the Pakistan hockey team may visit India for a friendly series.
Pakistan team’s manager Khawaja Junaid stated that both teams need to be seen in action in order to improve the performances on both sides.
According to the manager, every sport requires the public attention and it rises to an obvious level if the match turns up to be one of a kind. He added that the passion and excitement among fans is high when Pakistan and India played face-to-face in the ICC
World Cup semi-final match. Thus, the same kind of attention is expected from the hockey fans when these arch-rivals face each other in the hockey matches.
Recalling the past, the last hockey tour of the Indian team to Pakistan was cancelled due to the political tensions that took place between the two countries following the Mumbai terror attacks.
According to Junaid, it is expected that the renewal of sporting ties between India and Pakistan will have a huge influence on the sport of hockey, not only in the sub-continent but worldwide.
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