ISLAMABAD: Argentinean hockey team is likely to visit Pakistan next week to play two test matches, it was learnt here.

President of Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) retd Brig Khalid Khokar told Dawn that Argentina, which is slated to participate in a mega hockey event in India, is likely to visit Pakistan for two test matches enroute to India.

Argentina has recently requested Pakistan to host two tests and the PHF responded positively.

“At the moment, I’m not sure whether Argentinean team will visit Pakistan prior to start of hockey league in India or not,” said Khalid while talking to media here. “They requested us to host two tests and we agreed. Let’s hope they make the visit.”

The PHF chief added if the Argentina does visit Pakistan, the government as well as the federation will provide full security to them.

Hero Hockey World League is slated to be held in India from Nov 27 to Dec 6 in which eight teams are featuring that include hosts India, Australia, Argentina, Germany, Netherlands, Canada, Belgium and Australia.

Meanwhile, a former Olympian while speaking to Dawn on condition of anonymity, said since Argentina is going to play its first match against hosts India on Nov 27, there is little time left in between and the chances of them stopping over in Pakistan are slim.

“Now, only seven days are left in the commencement of Hockey League in India and the Argentinean authorities didn’t inform anything about the arrival of their team which means they are not interested to playing test matches before the start of the mega event,” the Olympian said.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2015