PAKISTAN INTERNATIONAL TO MISS WORLD CUP

Pakistan international Tariq Aziz will miss both the Champions Trophy in Terrassa in July and the World Cup. A six month ban imposed by his national federation for an incident during the Commonwealth Games has been accepted by the International Hockey Federation. The suspension dates back to the gold medal match between Pakistan and Australia, during which Aziz received a red card for an off-the-ball incident involving Australia's Rob Hammond. Aziz had earlier been suspended for two matches during the tournament for a similar incident during the match against South Africa. Aziz did not play in last month's world cup qualifier in China as a result of the suspension being already imposed by the Pakistan Hockey Federation.