The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has conveyed to the sport’s global governing body, FIH, that it would be “difficult” for them to send a team to India for the Asia Cup next month because of “security concerns”.

PHF chief Tariq Bugti said they had written to the FIH and Asian Hockey Federation (AHF), expressing their reservations over sending the team to India. “We have informed them that in the existing scenario, our team will face security risks playing in India. We have informed them our players are also not keen to travel to India for the Asia Cup, which is also a direct qualifying tournament,” he said.

The PHF chief said the ball is now in the court of the FIH and AHF as far as the event and decision on Pakistan‘s matches are concerned. “We have asked them to let us know what guarantee is there that our players will be safe in India and will be able to focus on the tournament,” he said.

The Pakistan government is yet to come out with an official statement on the issue, but recently, a senior government official had said that the team would not travel to India.