In a strongly-worded message, the International Hockey Federation on Monday warned India that it may lose the right to host the 2010 World Cup for men if satisfactory progress is not made in FIH-backed developmental project and preparations for the mega event.
The FIH Executive Board met in Laussane, Switzerland, on March 27 to 29 and reviewed the progress of the 'Promoting India Hockey' project and preparations for the World Cup after which the governing body said it has already started looking for alternative venues in case the event needed to be shifted out of India.
After finding that these initiatives were lagging behind, the FIH gave the Indian officials some more time and told them to fall in line or lose the privilege of organising the World Cup.
"The FIH reconsidered the conditional awarding of the World Cup 2010 to New Delhi. After having carefully studied the progress made with the project 'Promoting Indian Hockey' as well as the actions taken in the preparation of the World Cup 2010, the Executive Board noted that satisfactory progress had not been made in either area," the FIH said in a statement.