South Korea pulls out of Champions Trophy

Chennai, Sep 6 (UNI) South Korea has pulled out of the Champions Trophy hockey tournament to be held at Lahore in Pakistan from December 1 to 9 this year, due to security concerns.

South Korea has become the second team to announce its intention not to play in the mega event after Australia had decided against participating in the week-long event.

Though Australians had announced their decision last month, the twin blasts in Pakistan, two days ago, might have influenced Korea too to take the Aussie route in not fielding a team in the tournament, which was in a jeopardy, following reports that Spain and Netherlands too are contemplating to pull out.

South Korean coach Cho Myung Jun said ''Korea will not play in the Champions Trophy in Pakistan.'' Bob Davidzon, the chairman of the marketing committee of the International Hockey Federation (FIH), said the situation in Pakistan was a cause for concern. ''The FIH is concerned with the security situation in Pakistan and discussed it in the meeting in Beijing,'' he added.

''Australia have already pulled out. Now Korea. If more top countries pull out, the quality of the tournament will go down.

It is the same situation as in 2001, when the event was shifted to Rotterdam from Lahore,'' he said.

Meanwhile, the FIH has asked India and Malaysia to send their bids to conduct the prestigeous tournament, in the event of it being shifted out of Pakistan.

They would will meet in mid-September in Lausanne to take a final decision.

If the Champions Trophy was shifted from Pakistan, then India or Malaysia (whoever holds it) might get a chance to play in the event as a host nation.

UNI