New Delhi: After cricket, India and Pakistan will slug it out in hockey.

In a first-of-its kind in five years, India will host a four-match Test series against the arch-rivals in September and then will cross the border to play the same number of matches in Pakistan, according to Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) chief K. P. S. Gill.

Gill said the IHF and Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) were inspired by the success of the recently-held cricket series and the visit of junior hockey team to Pakistan, where it won its maiden Asia Cup title.

The much-awaited Test series would be an annual affair, Gill said, adding the venues for the four Tests in India were still to be decided.

The IHF chief said the series would also ensure financial gains for the Indian players.

“This series will be a boon for the Indian players who would stand to gain Rs 1 lakh each within 20 days.”

Gill also said he would not contest for a fourth term when the IHF goes for election in 2006. “I am not interested in the elections,” Gill, who assumed the presidentship of the federation in 1994, said.

Asia’s top clubs will face off in Singapore in October in the Asian Club Champions Cup, which has been resurrected after an eight-year hiatus, adds a report from Singapore.

The Asian Hockey Federation’s competitions committee, at its meeting in Karachi on April 28, approved the Singapore Hockey Federation’s bid to host the third edition of the meet from October 6-10. (PTI)