KARACHI Several amendments were proposed for the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) constitution at the two-hour long first PHF executive committee board's meeting of the year, held at the Hockey Club of Pakistan here on Tuesday.

The meeting, which also happened to be the first one being held since 2000, was presided over by the federation's Senior Vice President Saeed Khan in the absence of former PHF President Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, who stepped down from the post on Monday.

All the executive board members, namely PHF Secretary Asif Bajwa, former national team skipper Shahbaz Sr, Chaudhry Akhtar Rasool, Rana Mujahid, President of PHF Women's Wing Barrister Shahida Jamil along with Secretary Parveen Gill attended the meeting. Only former Olympian Tauqeer Dar couldn't make it.

While briefing the media later, Asif Bajwa said that the meeting was held in rather strange circumstances following President Jamali's sudden decision to resign on Monday.

It has created a new situation, making this meeting even more significant for us, he said.

Speaking about the former PHF head, Bajwa said that they had also passed a resolution appreciating Zafarullah Jamali's contribution to hockey during the meeting. I am also glad to announce that all the board members here today have showed their confidence in me, said Bajwa, who was appointed secretary by Federal Sports Minister Najamuddin Khan without the former president's consent in June.

The executive committee also gave its approval for Bajwa's four-year master plan for the uplift of hockey in the country, which he had unveiled on Sept 15.

We are now going to enter the execution phase for which we will be forming a marketing team to come up with ideas about generating funds, he added. Bajwa also mentioned the suggestion made at a recently held Pakistan Sports Board workshop of reserving 10 per cent of their overall funds for hockey. But when asked if it was true that the former president Jamali had left behind over five and a half crore in the PHF kitty, Bajwa said he didn't want to comment on the matter.

While elaborating on his master plan, he disclosed that it had pretty much taken off, already. The final round of the club championship commences around Oct 22-26 and the winners will go on to compete in the Asian Inter-club tournament in Malaysia next month, he said.

About the amendments made to the PHF constitution, Bajwa explained We have decided to give PHF a system to manage the smooth running of affairs. The amendments that we made to the constitution are organisation-specific and not person-specific and we only made them to do away with certain flaws in the shape of contradictions in the constitution.

But he clarified that nothing was final as yet and he would only be able to talk about these changes after they have been reviewed and approved at the congress meeting to be held next week on Monday, Oct 20 at Rawalpindi.

Meanwhile, the board formed four committees including the Umpiring Committee, Coaching Committee, Technical and Development Committee and Disciplinary Committee but the names of their members would only be revealed after the Oct 20 meeting as certain changes were expected there too.

As for the new selection committee and team management, they would only be decided after the taking over of the new PHF president.

When asked about the possible candidate for the top post, the member of the 1994 squad that won the World Championship and Champions Trophy said that no name had been finalised as yet. But yes, we would like a former Olympian to be appointed, he added.

When reminded about President Jamali's comment over his appointment as being an intervention by the Sports Ministry into the PHF affairs, Bajwa said that he had been given a copy of the resignation letter which didn't mention anything of the sort.

It's not important what people think or say. I have had excellent relations with Jamali Sahib. I have a lot of respect for him, he said.

When asked if Jamali had resigned fearing major opposition at this meeting, Bajwa said It couldn't be that as even the venue for this meeting was shifted to Karachi from Lahore on Jamali Sahib's request.