KARACHI, Nov 10: Reeling under its worst-ever crisis period this year, Pakistan hockey was rocked yet again late Monday when the NBP junior hockey home series between Pakistan and India was called off on the eve of the first Test match due to security concerns shown by the Indian government.

The announcement to this effect was made by a heartbroken Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) President, Qasim Zia who said: “The Indian junior hockey team will not be coming to play in Pakistan, I’m sorry to say.”

While making clear that the problem wasn’t caused from this side of the border, Qasim said: “The Indian team had been issued visas last Friday but we learned at around 7.00pm on Sunday that the Indian government was having second thoughts about sending the team to Pakistan although the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) had sent them as far as Amritsar.”

He was addressing the large media contingent at the recently refurbished Hockey Club of Pakistan (HCP), where the new flood lights and sound system were still being tested on Monday evening for the series opener.

A grim-looking PHF secretary Asif Bajwa, also speaking on the occasion, apologised to the media for the delayed press briefing: “We are extremely sorry to have kept you waiting but we wanted to ascertain a few things before coming here to speak to you.”

When asked why the PHF waited until now to break this news to the media when they had known about it since yesterday, Qasim said: “We approached our Patron ‘n’ Chief, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani with the issue who then instructed the foreign ministry to get involved in the matter. Pakistan’s foreign secretary was asked to get in touch with its Indian counterpart and we were hoping that some good would emerge from the talks. However, it did not happen in the end and we only learned about it this afternoon.

“I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our PM, security agencies and all concerned people who tried their best to make the series happen,” he added.

“We hoped to begin the revival of Pakistan hockey with this junior series and, therefore, so much hype was created. But our neighbours really let us down,” he lamented.

Asked why India had suddenly decided to cancel the visit and wasn’t a security plan approved by them in advance, Qasim said: “We were prepared with the best possible arrangements. Only they [Indians] would know best why they didn’t reciprocate. They should have at least informed us four or five days in advance.”

When asked about PHF’s back-up plan to the series in order to compensate the disappointment of the young cubs and thousands of fans who eagerly looked ahead to the contest, Qasim said: “The five-match series has been cut down to two matches. On Tuesday in Karachi, we the Pakistan veterans will face the junior team and I appeal to my countrymen to come here tomorrow and fill these stands as they had originally planned.”

The other match, he said, will be played in Lahore on November 21, details of which will be revealed later.

When asked if there were any chances of the series being rescheduled, Qasim said that it was too early to say anything on the issue.

On being asked if the PHF suffered any financial losses due to the cancellation, Qasim said: “The money is immaterial. It is the hurt feelings of our nation and setback to the expectations that we are worried about. But I promise that we will not let them feel the loss. There will be more events and tournaments in the future.”

Finally, a song prepared specially for the series was played for the media as the PHF officials put on brave smiles to stand up and put their hands together to cheer their junior players who had been working hard in preparation for this series for the past several weeks.

Earlier, the PHF top brass including Qasim, Secretary Asif Bajwa, Chief Selector Hasan Sardar, HCP’s Director Administration Olympian Iftikhar Syed, Karachi Hockey Association (KHA) President and Organising Secretary Mohammad Farooq Khan, KHA Honorary Secretary Gulfraz Ahmed Khan, PHF Sindh media coordinator Ghulam Mohammad Khan had kept everyone waiting for quite a while before finally facing the press after a 40-minute delay.

Entry at the HCP on Tuesday is free and the music programme and raffle draw of the over 25,000 coupons distributed for the match will go ahead as usual.

The veteran squad: Qasim Zia (captain), Asif Bajwa (vice captain), Hasan Sardar, Qamar Ibrahim, Islahuddin Siddiqui, Akhtar Rasool, Samiullah, Hanif Khan, Rana Mujahid, Ahmed Alam (goalkeeper), Qasim Khan, Khwaja Junaid, Ehtasham Ali Warsi, Pervaiz Iqbal, Mohammad Shafiq, Mohammad Anis, Arshad Hussain, Sumair Hussain, Wasim Feroz, Mohammad Ali.