Pakistan hockey team will tour India next month for the first 5-match series in seven years.
The tour is expected to improve sporting relations between both nations following the Pakistan cricket team’s Indian visit in December.
Officials of Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) and Hockey India met on the sidelines of an Asian Hockey Federation meeting in Malaysia last week before finalising the tour. PHF secretary Asif Bajwa hailed the revival of the series as “a big step”.
Pakistan will cross the border next month and play matches in Ranchi, Lucknow, Delhi, Mohali and Jalandhar between April 5 and 15.
The Indian team would later pay a return visit and play five matches in Lahore, Faisalabad, Karachi and Sialkot from April 23.
The two teams are also due to face each other in the Azlan Shah hockey tournament to be played in the Malaysian city of Ipoh from March 9-16. Pakistan and India last played a bilateral hockey series in 2006. Of the six matches played, Pakistan won three and lost one while the remaining two were drawn.
Both countries have won 11 Olympic hockey titles between them and ruled the Game’s arena for decades, with India winning eight and Pakistan three.
However, the neighbors have slumped at the international level in the last few years as Pakistan finished seventh at the London Olympics last year where India ended at their worst 12th and last.
