ISLAMABAD, Nov 11: The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has decided to continue with coach Tahir Zaman although he has failed to deliver for the past two years.

PHF secretary Brig Musarratullah Khan told Dawn following his meeting with the federation’s president Gen Muhammad Aziz on Tuesday that several factors were considered before it was decided to keep faith in Tahir.

Zakauddin and at least three others, who Musarrat did not name, were considered but Tahir’s willingness to work with a foreign coach earned him the nod.

Pakistan have hired Dutchman Roelant Oltmans as head coach for the national team and from now on Tahir will assist him, Musarrat said. Both will be with the team till the Champions Trophy next December.

Musarrat said that Oltmans had indicated he would be comfortable working with either Tahir Zaman or Asif Bajwa.

Under Tahir Pakistan have been unable to win any tournament of significance that has led to criticism of the PHF from various quarters.

Tahir’s latest failure came at the Afro-Asian Games in the Indian city of Hyderabad where his side lost 1-3 to the host nation in the final.

Oltmans’ first job will be the Dec 8 to 13 triangular event involving Pakistan’s senior and junior strings and Malaysia early next month.

“This event has been specifically fixed for Oltmans to identify players who would feature in his future plans,” Musarrat said.

“Since our plan to stage a major international tournament in December could not come through, we decided that this would be a good option.”

Oltmans who won everything big for Holland in the 1990s as coach, will give input to both the senior and junior Pakistan teams. He would also hold three coaching clinics in a year.

With Oltmans’s arrival, Pakistan will have three other foreigners associated with the national side - a Dutch physio, a goalkeeper trainer, also from Holland, and an Italian video analyst.

Tuesday’s meeting also discussed the domestic and international calendar of activities for 2004 which will be a busy year.

The start of the year will see the Azlan Shah Tournament in Malaysia, the Olympic qualifiers in March, a tour by the national side of Holland, Germany and England in late May, the Athens Olympics in August followed by the Champions Trophy at Lahore.