KEY POINTS:
New Zealand's chances of gaining a spot in December's Champions Trophy tournament in Pakistan remain a long shot but Hockey New Zealand boss Ramesh Patel is not ruling anything out.
Australia's decision this week to withdraw from the December 1-9 tournament in Lahore has left a gap in the six-team men's tournament. Concerns over security led the Australians, not for the first time, to bypass the tournament which rates behind only the World Cup and Olympics on the international calendar.
"In 2004, we went to the Champions Trophy in similar circumstances," Patel said yesterday. "We are certainly a little down the pecking order this time. I have sent an email to the international federation to ascertain what the position is."
New Zealand, ranked ninth in the world, finished eighth at last year's World Cup. Of the teams who finished above them - Germany, Australia, Spain, Korea (the top four teams at the World Cup), Netherlands (who finished seventh) and Pakistan (sixth) were handed places at the Champions Trophy.
Following Australia's withdrawal, England, who finished fifth (but are ranked a place below New Zealand at 10th), appear to be the next cab on the rank.
Argentina, who beat the Black Sticks in the Champions Challenge final in Belgium earlier this month to lift their world ranking to sixth (after finishing 10th at the World Cup) also have some claims.
But Black Sticks coach Shane McLeod said the feeling among the England players at the Champions Challenge tournament was they would not accept an invitation to go to Lahore - again for security reasons - which would leave New Zealand at the top of the "next in" list.
Patel agreed that giving hosting rights to Pakistan - they appear to host major tournaments on a regular basis - was a concern.
"I have already spoken to Foreign Affairs but until we know something definite it is a case of wait and see," said Patel. "It is a tournament which would give us valuable international hockey before the Olympic qualifiers in February and the Olympics themselves."
Meanwhile, the national side will play North Harbour and Auckland selections on August 2 and 8 before leaving for their five-test series in Japan on August 9.
