New Delhi: Australian Men's and Women's Hockey team and New Zealand Hockey team have decided to pull out of the upcoming tournaments including the junior hockey World Cup and the FIH (International Hockey Federation) Pro League due to COVID-19 related government travel restrictions.
The junior men's World Cup is scheduled to be held in India November-December this year while the women's World Cup is scheduled to be held in South Africa.
According to media reports, the Hockey Australia (HA) also announced that the Tokyo Olympics silver medallists and their Trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand will also skip season 3 of the Pro League, which starts next month, as a result of COVID related government travel restrictions and uncertainty in both nations.
As reported by News agency ANI, all participating countries and the FIH Pro League Council agreed it was untenable for international teams to travel to Australia and New Zealand, as well as for Australian and New Zealand teams to play overseas and return without having to quarantine."
Hockey Australia acting CEO, Michael Johnston reportedly said, "Based on risk assessment and current Australian government health advice, Hockey Australia is not considering overseas hockey-related trips at this time. The decision on our absence from the FIH Pro League was a collective one agreed on by all nations based primarily on other countries' difficulty or inability to travel into Australia and New Zealand."
In addition to this, the Hockey Australia has also decided to stay away from the Indoor Hockey World Cup which is to be held in February next year in Belgium and the Masters Indoor World Cup in the USA at the same time.