Malaysia Will Host the Men Hockey Asian Cup 2009, As Dubai Pulls Out !

yeay ! bestnyer ada lagi international hockey tournament kan

kali neh akan buat kat kuantan plak.

surelah jam pack kuantan

hehe tengoklah nanti kalau ada masa aku nak pergi tengok lah

dah lama rasanya x tengok good field hockey game kan. hehe 🙂

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source here ok

By K.R. Nayar Senior Reporter
Published: March 23, 2009, 23:04

Dubai: The 2009 Asia Cup men’s hockey tournament, scheduled to be held in Dubai in May, has been moved to Malaysia.

The UAE Hockey Committee had beaten strong contenders like India, Malaysia, Pakistan and Bangladesh to win the rights to host the event during the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) meeting held in Hyderabad last year. The Asia Cup was scheduled to be staged at the new stadium at the Dubai Sports City.

“We have opted out of staging the Asia Cup due to financial reasons. If we staged the event during this period, we would not have made any profit,” remarked Khalid Esmail, vice president of the UAE Hockey Committee.

Adam Barnes, the manager of the World Hockey Academy at the Dubai Spots City said that the hockey stadium would have been ready for event.

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“After UAE was granted the hosting rights, the Dubai Sports City’s was approached to host the event. Work at the stadium is now nearing completion and hence could have staged the event successfully in May,” said Barnes.

Soon after UAE expressed their inability to host the Asia Cup, Malaysia staked their claim for the event.

“It was unfortunate we could not stage the Asia Cup but we will stage other international events soon. We are getting in touch with the International Hockey Federation to allot us the World Cup qualifiers to be staged here. Discussions have only begun and we might stage the qualifiers in October,” said Esmail. Malaysia will announce the details of the Asia Cup soon.

The event is scheduled to be held from May 8-15. Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh and Johar Bahru are under consideration. Malaysia is also supposed to stage Sultan Azlan Shah Cup tournament in Ipoh from April 6 to 12.

Were you looking forward to the Asian Cup? Will the shifting of the tournament from UAE delay the progress of the game?