Pakistan Friday blocked its hockey and squash teams' tour of India because of the tense relations between the two countries, with Sports Minister Aftab Shah Jilani saying the authorities were concerned about the players' security in India in the current circumstances.
"We sought advice from the foreign ministry and took the decsion that it's not advisable to send the teams to India over security fears," Jilani told reporters here.
Pakistan's hockey team was scheduled to feature in a four-nation tournament at Chandigarh Jan 31-Feb 8 alongside Germany, Holland and hosts India.
The national squash team was readying for the Asian Junior Squash Championships at Chennai Jan 16-23.
The Pakiastani government decision was not surprising, considering the fact that India cancelled its cricket team's tour of Pakistan last month following the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. After that decision, Pakistan was expected to retaliate by refusing to let its sportsmen travel to India.
The minister stressed that sporting ties between the countries could be revived if the situation improved.
"Once we have normalcy in the situation, we can review of our participation in sporting events in India," Jilani said.
In 2001 too, Pakistan and India broke off sporting ties in the wake of the terror attack on the Indian parliament. India lifted the ban in October 2003, paving way for its cricket team's visit to Pakistan a year later.
Former Indian hockey Olympians dubbed Monday the saddest day after the country failed to make it to the Olympics for the first time in 80 years and sought a thorough overhaul of the way the game is run.
Aghast over India's rout in the Olympic qualifiers, ex-players across the country also sought a change of guard in the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) and also held coach Joaquim Carvalho responsible for the disaster.
The angry reactions came after Britain beat India 2-0 in the final of the Olympic qualifiers in Chile, throwing out the eight-time Olympic champions from the mega event for the first time since 1928.
"This is the saddest day in Indian hockey and maybe in Indian sport," rued former captain and three-time Olympian Pargat Singh. It is a collective failure. More than the players, the administration must own up the failure."
Echoing him, Gurbux Singh, a member of the 1964 gold-medal winning team, told IANS in Kolkata: "This is the saddest day for Indian hockey. I still can't believe that India will not play in the Olympics."
But he quickly added: "This is not the time for desperation. It is time to regroup."
Adrian D'Souza, the Indian goalkeeper at the 2004 Athens Olympics, said: "This is really disappointing. The game has changed over the years. Compared to other countries, we don't have proper infrastructure or funding. It's going to take a long time for players to get over this defeat."
Added another Olympian Ashok Kumar, son of the legendary Dhyan Chand, the wizard of hockey: "The IHF, the sports ministry and players are all to be blamed for the loss.
"The standard of our game has fallen to dismal levels. The administration will have to change for things to improve."
Gurbux Singh pointedly held Carvalho responsible for the humiliation.
"There were two fatal errors. One was Carvalho's insistence of not allowing technical adviser Ric Charlesworth to get involved in the planning and composition of the team and of not allowing him to travel to Australia and Chile.
"The second was the omission of some senior players like Sandeep Singh and Arjun Halappa who are in fine form," said the head coach of the 1976 Indian team that finished seventh in the Olympics.
Jagbir Singh, who played for India at the Seoul and Barcelona Olympics, said the country did not prepare well for the qualifiers and the writing was on the wall.
"This was coming. We are past being hockey champions and we should realize that now. The governance of the game is to be blamed. We did not prepare well. We did not play enough tournaments before the qualifiers. The effect could be seen on the field.
"We played stereotype hockey. There was no planning. The body language of the players was dismal. They were frustrated and invited yellow cards. These turned into nightmare," he said.
Viren Rasquinha, who represented India till recently, said the team lacked a strategy.
"There was lack of composure and discipline in the final. The strategy was poor. Luckily we did not concede many goals. We could have easily lost by six goals."
Indo-Asian News Service
Hockey is among the most ancient of sports, with records of a ball and stick game dating back to the earliest civilisations.
A similar game was popular throughout medieval Europe, and the name hockey is thought to derive from the French hocquet, or shepherd's crook.
The sport we know today originated in 19th Century England, possibly as a winter variation on the traditional summer sport of cricket.
Blackheath Football and Hockey Club was founded in London in 1861 and at nearby Teddington, much of the modern game was developed.
A spherical ball replaced a rubber cube and the striking circle, in which players can score goals, was incorporated into the rules of the men's Hockey Association, founded in London in 1886.
The All England Women's Hockey Association followed in 1895, while in the same year England beat Ireland 5-0 in the first men's international match in London.
England's women lost 2-0 against Ireland the following year when the first women's international was played in Dublin.
DID YOU KNOW?
The longest game in Olympic hockey history lasted 2hrs 25mins when the Netherlands beat Spain 1-0 in 1968
As the British Empire increased in size the sport was spread around the world and men's hockey joined the Olympics in 1908, although the women's game did not feature until 1980.
India dominated the sport in the first half of the 20th Century, winning all six Olympic gold medals and 30 consecutive games from 1928 to 1956.
Until the 1970s, the game at international level was mainly played on natural grass, but has become an even more exciting game since switching to astroturf.
Pakistan had two victories in the 1960s and also won the first ever hockey World Cup in 1971, before West Germany became the first Olympic champions from Europe in 1972.
Zimbabwe took the inaugural women's title in 1980 but since then Australia have dominated with three wins, though they finished out of the medals in Athens.
The Netherlands were bidding for their third consecutive gold in Athens but were beaten 2-1 by Australia in extra time.
MEDAL TABLE
Country Gold Silver Bronze Total
Men (since 1908; top five)
India 8 1 2 11
Pakistan 3 3 2 8
The Netherlands 2 3 3 8
Great Britain 3 1 3 7
Australia 1 3 3 7
Women (since 1980; top five)
Australia 3 0 0 3
The Netherlands 1 1 3 5
Spain 1 0 0 1
Zimbabwe 1 0 0 1
Germany 1 0 0 1