SELECTION WRANGLES

HOCKEY COACH KI KHOJ

Ad-hoc panel to shortlist coaches next week

New Delhi: The ad-hoc committee for Indian hockey will prepare a shortlist of coaches for the senior national team next week.

Ad-hoc committee convenor Mohd Aslam Khan on Thursday met senior Sports Ministry and Indian Olympic Association officials to discuss various issues related to the game, including the selection of coach for the men’s team. “The meeting went off very well. We discussed all our plans, starting from shortlisting of probables for the coach to necessary equipments for the teams,” Aslam said.

“On July 31, we will meet Olympians and technical experts of the game to bring out a roadmap for Indian hockey . In that very meeting, we will finalise the probables for national team coach’s job and then send the list to the Ministry,” he added.

Aslam, meanwhile, dismissed reports that Olympians Jagbir Singh and M K Kaushik, who is in charge of the women’s team, were the front-runners to take over the coaching reigns of the men’s team. “We (the ad-hoc committee) have not met but are yet to deliberate on this matter,” he said.

He further added that the adhoc committee has no plans to use the services of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) coaching project manager and former Pakistan player Tayyab Akram.

“There is no such plan. I don’t know from where the baseless stories come out,” said Aslam.