India-Pakistan football series delayed

KARACHI: Hopes of a revival of India-Pakistan sporting ties were dashed on Friday when a two-match football series between the two sides scheduled to be held in Britain next month was called off, an official said.

"The series has been postponed due to unavoidable circumstances and a fresh date will be announced in due course," said a PFF spokesman in a statement.

The two-matches were scheduled for Derby on September 3 and Glasgow on September 9 and were anxiously awaited by fans at home and in Britain, which has a sizeable South Asian population.

Pakistan had announced a 22-member squad for the series on Thursday and the team was scheduled to fly on Saturday.

The series was supposed to be played last year but the Indian Football Federation could not get clearance from its own government.

New Delhi put a stop to bilateral sporting ties with Pakistan in the wake of terrorist attacks on Mumbai in 2006, which India blamed on militants based in Pakistan.

The attacks, which killed 166 people, led to India's abandoning their national cricket team's tour of Pakistan in early 2009, and no series have been played since.

Pakistan cricket authorities are trying to organise a tour of India early next year.