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India ready to play in Pakistan

AFP, New Delhi
India will not hesitate to accept an invitation to the elite six-nation Champions Trophy field hockey tournament in Pakistan if Australia or New Zealand pull out, officials said on Monday.
Both Australia, the new Olympic champions, and New Zealand, who finished sixth at Athens, have expressed reservations about making the trip to Lahore for the December 4-12 event due to security concerns.
India, who were seventh at the Olympics, will be the first-choice replacements and Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) officials said they were watching developments closely.
"It is an honour to play in the Champions Trophy and we will surely consider the invitation positively if it comes to us," an IHF official told AFP.
"We have no problem about going to Pakistan."
Arch-rivals India and Pakistan will engage in an eight-match bilateral series from September 24, with both nations hosting four matches each.
Hockey Australia chief executive Lyndon Adamson said last week he had asked Champions Trophy organisers for details of their security plans after some team members expressed reservations about touring Pakistan.
The Australian government recently renewed its warning to nationals to avoid all non-essential travel to Pakistan for security reasons. Australia have previously pulled out of playing a cricket triseries and a Test series in Pakistan on security grounds.
In 2002 New Zealand's cricket team packed their bags and left the country after a suicide bomb blast outside their hotel in Karachi killed 15 people including 11 French naval staff.
New Zealand Hockey Federation chief executive Ramesh Patel admitted he was consulting his Australian counterpart and the world governing body about the tournament, but said an immediate decision was unlikely.
"We want to go through that process first and make sure we aren't doing anything irresponsible," Patel said. "After that, we will go to the players and ask them what they feel about it.
Pakistan has brushed aside security fears and assured "foolproof" security to the participating teams.
"There are no security problems in Pakistan and, through the International Hockey Federation, we have assured a foolproof security arrangement for all the foreign teams," Pakistan Hockey Federation secretary Brigadier Musaratullah Khan said.
Australia and New Zealand are billed to take on world champions Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and hosts Pakistan in the annual tournament.
India are due to host the 2006 event.