Sunday, April 18, 2010

Malaysian women grounded by European ash

THE Malaysian women’s hockey team, who were supposed to travel to Chile yesterday, were grounded by the volcanic ash from Iceland which has enveloped Europe and grounded air travel.
“We are in contact with the FIH (International Hockey Federation) and they told us that even Ireland and Scotland are unable to travel to Chile.
“We need at least five days to get acclimatised after travelling for more than 44 hours via Frankfurt to Chile and it looks like the FIH will have to reschedule the tournament fixtures,” said Malaysian Women’s Hockey Federation sec retary S. Shamala.
The women’s World Cup Qualifier is supposed to start on April 24-May 5 with Australia being the favourites to snatch the single ticket.
The FIH are expected to make an announcement on Monday.