Chennai, Aug 7 - The Hero Honda hockey World Cup to be held in Delhi next year has been advanced by a week and will now be held Feb 28 to March 13, according to a press release from the Federation Internationale de Hockey (FIH), Friday.

The reason assigned is to ensure a 'better worldwide promotion of FIH's showcase event', the release stated.

The new schedule will avoid a clash of the World Cup dates with a couple of major tournaments, notably Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket.

The World Cup will see the best 12 teams of the world in action at the National Stadium in New Delhi.

Canada, Korea, South Africa and hosts India have already qualified for the World Cup. The qualifying process to identify the other seven teams will conclude in November 2009, the release added.