Even though the Mumbai Hockey Association (MHA) yesterday claimed to have received a go-ahead from the Bombay City Civil Courtu00a0to organise the 47th Bombay Gold Cup Hockey Tournament, the Indian Olympic Associationu00a0 (IOA) refused to change its stance on the issue.

In fact, convenor of the IOA-formed ad-hoc committee that runs hockey in the country, Mohammed Aslam Khan even warned of action against teams participating in the prestigious tournament.

The city civil court had previously restrained the MHA from taking any decisions apart from holding the elections, which automatically stopped them from organising the Gold Cup. Subsequently, the ad-hoc committee withdrew the permission it had given the Mumbai body to hold the tournament. Yesterday however MHA secretary Kehar Singh said he was confident of getting a written approval from the court in time to host the tournament. "As tomorrow is a holiday we may receive the court order only on Wednesday after which we will send it across to IOA," Singh said.

Khan however was firm in his stand. "As of this evening, we have not received any fresh information on the issue, so we stand by our withdrawal of permission to the MHA. And in such a scenario, the participating teams are liable to attract disciplinary action from our end," Khan told MiD DAY yesterday.

Meanwhile, prominent teamsu00a0 likeu00a0 Air India, BPCL, IOCL, Punjab & Sind Bank, Army etc, have confirmed participation in the tournament to be held from April 15 to 29 at the MHA-Mahindra Stadium.