Abbottabad fast becoming no-go area for sports

In the aftermath of the killing of Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad earlier this month, the garrison townu00a0-- deemed as one of the safest places in Pakistanu00a0-- is fast becoming a no-go area for sports. Days after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) dropped the city as a venue for the one-day series between Pakistan A and visiting Afghanistan side, the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) also scrapped plans to have an extensive training there ahead of its team's Europe tour.

Move on
According to 'The News', PHF was forced to move an elite training camp from Abbottabad to Islamabad after their Dutch coach refused to supervise the exercise in the garrison town where Osama was gunned down by US special forces.

Quoting sources, the report said that Michel van den Heuvelu00a0-- Pakistan's national coachu00a0-- threatened to walk away from the 15-day training camp if the PHF went ahead with plans to stage the camp in Abbottabad.
"When Michel learnt that the PHF has decided to hold the training camp in Abbottabad, he didn't like the idea. The coach told senior PHF officials that he would feel safer if the camp took place in either Lahore or Islamabad," said the source.

However, under pressure from their coach, the PHF announced that it will stage the camp in Islamabad from May 30. In a similar move, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Thursday moved a one-day game between Afghanistan and Pakistan A from Abbottabad to Islamabad.