Oman has replaced Pakistan in FIH Hockey Men`s Junior World Cup 2025, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) said on Wednesday.
Earlier, the Pakistan Hockey Federation had notified FIH that they had not accepted the invitation to participate in the tournament, following which Oman has now been named as its replacement.
The FIH Hockey Men`s Junior World Cup 2025 will be held from November 28 to December 10 in the cities of Chennai and Madurai.
The Pakistani team had qualified for the marquee tournament during the Asia Junior Cup last year.
The team was placed in Group B of the tournament along with India, Chile, and Switzerland. Oman joined as the next-highest-placed team in the continental championship (Junior Asia Cup 2024), qualifying for this Junior World Cup.
For the very first time, the FIH Hockey Junior World Cups 2025, women and men, will involve 24 teams each, enabling greater accessibility to FIH events, which is one of the fundamental principles of the FIH Empowerment and Engagement strategy.
Germany emerged as the champion in the previous edition held in 2023 at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
This is the second event in India from which the Pakistan side has pulled out. Earlier, the Pakistan Men`s Hockey team also pulled out of Hockey Asia Cup, citing security reasons. The tournament was hosted in Rajgir, Bihar, from August 29 to September 7. Bangladesh participated in Asia Cup 2025 in place of Pakistan. Oman, had then decided against the participation in Asia Cup 2025, with Kazakhstan taking their place in the competition.
In cricket, the Pakistan Team didn`t travel to India for the ongoing ICC Women`s World Cup 2025 and played all the games of the competition at Colombo`s R Premadasa Stadium as Sri Lanka is a co-host of the mega event.
The sporting ties between India and Pakistan have deteriorated since the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack and India`s subsequent retaliatory military action in Operation Sindoor.
The Indian government recently announced a new policy under which it will not engage in bilateral sporting contests with Pakistan but will continue to compete against them in multi-nation tournaments.
(With ANI Inputs)
