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'World Cup will not be shifted out of Pakistan'

By Harish Kotian in Mumbai
February 17, 2009 22:48 IST

International Cricket Council chief Haroon Lorgat on Monday night made it clear that as of now the 2011 World Cup, to be jointly hosted by India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, will not be shifted out of Pakistan.

All the four host nations, he said, have only been asked to have an alternate venue in hand.

"There is no truth in the World Cup moving as far as we are concerned. We are planning for the four countries to host it. What we are planning to do, as we do for all our events, is to do a security assessment and then take a view at that time," Lorgat told a press conference in Mumbai.

He also added that a final decision will be taken in a year's time.

"The World Cup is two years away. It will be speculative to state what the security situation would be in a few years time (in Pakistan)."

However, he was quick to add: "A decision the sooner the better. We will wait for at least another one year to see what developments unfold."

Lorgat's statements were in the wake of his comments earlier in the day, when addressing a press conference after the meeting of the 2011 World Cup Central Organising Committee in New Delhi he said the turmoil in Pakistan is a "consideration" for the governing body.

"It's [the turmoil in Pakistan] a consideration that we have to give attention to. This is not something we discussed today, except to ask the organisers to consider alternate host city venues within the country as well as alternate country venues in the event of something is not favourable in one of the particular host countries," he had said.

Harish Kotian in Mumbai

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