KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) is considering the possibility of hosting the Paris Olympic qualifier, replacing Pakistan, if the Speedy Tigers fail to secure the gold medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games, which begin next week.
Lahore, Pakistan and Valencia, Spain were selected to host the Paris Olympic qualifiers on Jan 13-21.
However, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) decided to revoke Pakistan's hosting rights for one of the qualifiers on Tuesday due to internal conflict between the country's hockey association and the sports board.
This recent turn of events has sparked the interest of MHC in potentially bidding to host the qualifier.
"We have yet to decide on whether to host the qualifier. However, we will hold discussions on this matter soon," said MHC national teams chairman Datuk Ahmad Najmi Razak on Saturday.
MHC chief executive officer Nishel Kumar, meanwhile, believes the FIH will reopen the bidding process to select a new host for the qualifier after the Asian Games, which end on Oct 8.
"We are keeping our options open regarding hosting the qualifier," Nishel stated.
Each qualifier will consist of eight teams, selected based on their performance in continental championships.
The top three teams in each qualifier will secure Olympic berths for the Paris Games next year.
Nishel added: "Each qualifier offers three slots, which is a more straightforward path compared to the Asian Games, where only the champions earn a ticket to Paris."