14 Mar 2009

Women's hockey tour to india cancelled due to security

6:48 am on 14 March 2009

Security concerns have led to the cancellation of the New Zealand women's hockey tour to India next month.

The Black Sticks were scheduled to compete against India, Canada and Azherbaijan at the event.

Hockey New Zealand Chief Executive Ramesh Patel says he only found out the tournament was off after calling Indian officials to check on the team's security arrangements.

He says they informed him the tour was being postponed due to elections in India being held at the same time, which would make it difficult for satisfactory security to be arranged.

The tournament's been re-arranged for September but Patel says the revised date doesn't fit with their current programme.