Hockey: Pakistan upset by India snub

Pakistan expressed disappointment on Wednesday after India refused to take part in a field hockey event that organisers hoped could revive sporting ties between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

Pakistan Hockey Federation secretary Asif Bajwa said the board was informed that the government in New Delhi had blocked the visit.

"It is very disappointing that India... has refused to send their team, terming the current situation not conducive for the tour," Bajwa told AFP.

The Federation had hoped India's participation alongside Pakistan and Malaysia at the event in the eastern city of Lahore from April 9-13 could be a first step towards reviving a bilateral hockey series, last held in 2006.

India suspended all bilateral sporting ties with Pakistan after Islamist gunmen attacked Mumbai in November 2008, killing 166 people. New Delhi blamed the attacks on Pakistani militants.

Violence-hit Pakistan was then stripped of its World Cup 2011 co-hosting rights after gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore in March 2009.

"We had made top-level security arrangements for the event and had thought that the event will give a new fillip to Indo-Pak hockey as both countries are also (participating) in London Olympics 2012, but everything is spoiled," said Bajwa.

The United States on Monday slapped a $10 million bounty on Hafiz Saeed, who lives openly in Pakistan and who founded Lashkar-e-Taiba, the extremist group accused of masterminding the carnage in Mumbai nearly four years ago.

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