New Delhi: Junior India coach Ajay Kumar Bansal, who recently guided the team to the Asia Cup title in Hyderabad , has emerged as the frontrunner for being appointed the senior national coach.

On Thursday, the IOA appointed ad hoc committee on hockey has called a meeting, which will be attended by the section committee members and a number of former Olympians. The committee is likely to select a panel of 10 coaches for the road map to be prepared and submitted to the government as part of the plan for the 2010 World Cup. The final project will only be finalized after a few more meetings.

According to IOA sources, Bansal could get the nod of the committee as he has the support of both the IOA president Suresh Kalmadi and the chairman of the ad hoc selection committee Aslam Sher Khan.

Interestingly, Bansal, under whom India finished runners- up in the last Azlan Shah tournament in Malaysia , is the only non-Olympian, who has been asked to attend the meeting at the Olympic Bhawan on Thursday.

“Bansal has been doing extremely well with the juniors and most of the boys currently playing in the senior national team are his wards,” sources said. “Since both the IOA and the ad hoc committee want an Indian to take charge, Bansal seems to be the most logical choice.”While Bansal said he has only been asked to attend the meeting, the convener of the ad hoc committee Aslam Khan said he was not sure whether the name of the coach could be announced immediately. “We will take everyone’s suggestion before deciding on the future course of action,” he said.

“We have a tough task ahead and will have to see that India gets back on the right track.”

Apart from the selection committee members, namely Aslam Sher Khan, Ashok Kumar, Ajitpal Singh and Dhanraj Pillay, former Olympians like MP Ganesh, BP Govinda, Mohammed Shahid, MK Kaushik, Ashish Ballal and Pargat Singh have been called for the meeting. The ad hoc committee has also asked some of the recent players like Dilip Tirkey, Prabhjot Singh and Gurbaj Singh to attend the meeting.