Asian Hockey Federation postpones hockey tournament ‘till the second half of the year’

NEW DELHI: The Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) on Friday postponed the Asian Champions Trophy (ACT) hockey tournaments for both men and women ‘till the second half of the year’ due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The women’s edition of the ACT was to be organised in Donghae, South Korea from March 31 to April 6, while the men’s edition was supposed to be held in Dhaka from March 11 to 19.

Originally, both the tournaments were scheduled to be held last year but were postponed because of the pandemic.

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AHF has been in touch with all the participating nations, hosts as well as FIH over the past few months and while there are government restrictions and travel restricted.

AHF stated that another major factor to postpone the most awaited event, was the challenges countries faced in holding national camps.

Speaking about the same AHF chief executive Tayyab Ikram informed that the decision was taken keeping in mind various factors but first and foremost was the safety, health and welfare of the players.

"Different scenarios emerged from different countries. While some countries have resumed training, some are incomplete lockdown. They are uncertain when they will be able to open up and train. Holding the event when teams have not been able to prepare due to the COVID situation was another major concern for us at AHF as it is against the basic principle of equal opportunity," Ikram added.

He further said that the postponement of both the events has been approved by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) and new dates, which are likely to be in September (for women)/October 2021 (for men), will be "finalised and communicated as soon as possible."

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