World Cup 2011 tournament almost impossible.: Pawar

3-3-09 A shocked cricket world has condemned the attack on the Sri Lankan players on Tuesday in Lahore.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the co-hosts of the 2011 World Cup has admitted that convincing teams to travel to the troubled regions in the sub-continent for the tournament would now be almost impossible.

"On the face of this attack I don't think any country would like to go and play in Pakistan. So the ICC will have to reconsider the decision to play matches in Pakistan. I don't think that as far as India and Sri Lanka are concerned there would be any problem for the foreign team to come because the situation in Pakistan is quite different than in India and Sri Lanka. The security measures in India and Sri Lanka are much better than Pakistan," said BCCI President Shashank Manohar.

International Cricket Council (ICC) President-elect Sharad Pawar, who would be at the helm during the 2011 World Cup to be staged by Asian nations, said that some teams would not like to be part of the World Cup after the attack.

"I am afraid about the impact of this incident on the 2011 World Cup that we are organising. The impact will not be good as the cricket playing countries would not want to be a part of it," said Pawar.

International teams have been avoiding the troubled country for long and Tuesday's attack could well mean no cricket in Pakistan for a long time to come.

"But now the situation is such that we have to give a thought and it is really shameful what is happening in that country," he said.

The ICC, however, is reluctant to comment on the World Cup, insisting that it is too early to make a statement.

"It is too early to comment on the matter," said an ICC source when asked if Pakistan could lose out on hosting the quadrennial extravaganza, which is to be hosted by India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka as well.

But an attack of this magnitude is bound to have an impact, said former BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah.

"It will have some effect, there is no doubt about it," he said.

"The players are all shocked. This is not acceptable anywhere. We never expect such things in cricket. This is really a very terrible incident," he added.

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