KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia are ready to take over from India as hosts of the 2010 World Cup Hockey Finals.

The tournament was awarded to India last year but the current turmoil in the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) has prompted the International Hockey Federation (FIH) to look for an alternative venue.

The MHF secretary, Hashim Mohamed Yusof, said yesterday: “We have informed the FIH of our willingness to stage the Finals even though they have not called for bids. We want to make sure that we are in the running to host the tournament if the FIH decide to make a change at their congress in Los Angeles in November.”

Malaysia have hosted the Finals twice before – in 1975 and 2002.

The IHF were disbanded recently and an ad-hoc committee under the jurisdiction of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) were set up to run the sport in the country.
Last year, Malaysia replaced Pakistan as hosts of the Champions Trophy because teams refused to go to Lahore for security reasons.