The Asian Age

Karachi, Aug. 10: The International Hockey Federation has refused wildcard entries to Pakistan and India for the 2009 Champions Trophy men’s hockey tournament to be held in Melbourne in November.

An official from the Pakistan Hockey Federation confirmed that the FIH had turned down their request to give the country a wildcard entry following the former Asian giants failure to directly qualify for the event.

“We had sent a request that since Pakistan and India are major players in world hockey they should be allowed wild card entries for the Champions Trophy where number of teams can be increased,” the official said. — PTI