Cricket-Women's World Cup qualifiers moved to South Africa

MUMBAI, India, Jan 8 (Reuters) - The rescheduling of the Pakistan general election has forced organisers of the women's World Cup qualifying tournament to move next month's event to South Africa, the International Cricket Council said on Tuesday.

The Feb. 18-24 eight-team tournament was originally due to be staged in Lahore last November but was postponed for security reasons until after the country's proposed election date of Jan. 8.

"But with the rescheduling of that vote for February 18 (after the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto), the decision was made to move the event to South Africa," an ICC statement said.

The event will now be held in the Stellenbosch district of the Western Cape.

Bermuda, Ireland, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Scotland, South Africa, and Zimbabwe are the eight participating teams. The top two will qualify for the main event in Australia in 2009, the statement said. (Reporting by Sanjay Rajan, Editing by John O'brien)