LAHORE, Dec 31 While the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) will be deciding about sending the Pakistan team to India in February on Thursday, no exact date has been given for the team's chief coach Ayaz Mahmood for joining the team in order to prepare it for the important tour.

“The PHF president and I will be going to Islamabad to meet the federal sports minister on Thursday to take a final decision on whether we should be sending the team to India or not,” PHF secretary Asif Bajwa told reporters after the Executive Board meeting here on Wednesday.

India had invited Pakistan to play a back-to-back four-nation tournament to be held in February but the invitation had been extended before the Mumbai terror attacks, which have strained political relations between the two neighbouring countries.

India, in the aftermath of its Nov 26 attacks, refused to send its cricket team to Pakistan, due on Jan 4. It will be a tit-for-tat reply if the Pakistan government also refuses to send its national hockey team to India. But it will also trigger more losses for sports in the region.

“The PHF can send its team to India as the gesture could help restart friendship between the two countries but at the end of the day we have to follow the government's instructions,” Bajwa said.

When asked if Pakistan coach Ayaz Mahmood would be available for the tour, the secretary, could not give an exact date as to when the coach would join the team. He said he was likely to be here in the month of January. If the tour is on, Pakistan are to go to India on Jan 30.

The PHF had announced Ayaz, who was working as a station manager for PIA in Russia, as chief coach last month.

“Though the PIA has decided on a replacement for Ayaz in Russia, the process to send an official to the country is somewhat lengthy. Hopefully the coach will be here sometime in January,” Bajwa said.

To a question about the paid coaches of the PHF not bothering to attend the ongoing coaching course at Lahore despite being invited, Bajwa said that they had deducted 10 days' salary from their monthly pay.

“It is the first step,” he said. “And if they repeat the same act in the future, more severe action will be taken against them,” he added.

Kamran Ashraf, Ahmad Alam, Ayaz Mahmood and Qamar Ibrahim, all belonging to PIA, did not report for the course.

When asked if all the four paid coaches were also drawing salaries from two organisations (the PIA and PHF), the secretary said that the PHF was paying them an honorarium. He, however, avoided disclosing the amount being paid.

It has been learnt that PIA did not allow their employees to attend the course. It also shows that the coaches were not focussed on their job.

Bajwa also said that the Executive Board had decided that the national team would play in Azlan Shah in April and in the Asia Cup in March. Besides that, the PHF have also invited Malaysia to visit Pakistan next month.

The Pakistan Junior team will also visit Malaysia in April for a test series, he further added.

The secretary said the Executive Board decided to distribute 10,000 hockey sticks and balls to different schools, which had shown an interest in the game. He claimed that a crystal-clear system would be adopted to distribute sports gear among the schools.

To a question regarding clubs, he further claimed that a more attractive helping plan would also be devised to support the clubs.

Saying that the Executive Board had appreciated and approved the PHF development plan, he pointed out that the current PHF hierarchy had fulfilled all promises made for the end of this year.

While admitting that 2008 was not a good year for Pakistan hockey, Bajwa promised that 2009 would be quite different with plenty of good news.

He claimed the PHF would be able to field a well-balanced side in the 2012 Olympics.

“I will not like to make tall claims for building up a winning combination overnight but we are making our best efforts to meet the challenges ahead,” he concluded.