AHF postpones Junior Hockey Asia Cup

KARACHI: The Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) has postponed the Men’s Junior Hockey Asia Cup 2021 in Dhaka because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The 10-team tournament was to be played from January 21 to 30.

It was to serve as the qualifying tournament for next year’s Junior International Hockey Federation (FIH) World Cup.

“We are all still going through difficult times of great uncertainty with the pandemic continuing to have a massive impact on daily life in many countries and restrictions on travel still persisting,” AHF said.

“The Bangladesh Hockey Federation (BHF) as the host of the Men’s Junior Asia Cup Dhaka 2021 has had intense discussions with its national government around some aspects of this, such as the ongoing unavailability of visas and strict quarantine requirements for persons entering the country, and BHF and AHF subsequently discussed the uncertainty around the ability to hold the Junior Asia Cup in an orderly, sensible and fair manner in January,” AHF said.

“Apart from the protection of players’, team staff and officials’ health and welfare being a priority, we also need to consider that the Junior Asia Cup is a top-level event, a Junior World Cup qualifier and a competition featuring athletes who are only one step from playing at the very highest level of our sport, so we must ensure appropriate conditions for the event and minimise the risk of qualified teams and athletes being unable to participate,” it added. The new dates of the regional championship will be announced later.