The Executive Board meeting was held at the PHF offices here on Monday.

Hanif will have the assistance of three other Olympians, namely, Mohammad Usman, Musaddaq Hussain and Arshad Chaudhary as members.

Though the PHF decided to have Hanif Khan at the helm, the Board set aside his proposal to appoint a foreign coach only for the Under-23 and Junior strings instead for the national side.

“The Executive Board has decided in principle to hire the services of any qualified foreign coach for the Pakistan team,” PHF President Qasim Zia said while addressing a press conference after presiding over the meeting.

Qasim, when reminded of Hanif's proposal, said “That is Hanif's personal opinion, I am only telling you what the Board has decided.”

Hanif, in an exclusive interview with Dawn earlier (March 24), had said that no foreign coach could bring improvement in the techniques of the senior players and it would be better to hire him for the Under-23 boys in order to prepare them for the 2012 Olympics.

Saying that, he had also pointed out that the current senior players were a better lot to win the forthcoming 2010 Asian Games.

The PHF president also mentioned hiring a psychologist for the national team.

To a question about a new manager for the team, Qasim said that his name would be announced after the hiring of a foreign coach.

Qasim said the PHF was in contact with a couple of foreign coaches but there were still certain points to be discussed with them and it would be rather premature to be divulging into details about it at this stage.

He said the Executive Board has put its weight behind the foreign coach proposal in order to resurrect national hockey as there was no other highly-qualified coach available in Pakistan.

Qasim had dissolved the entire selection committee headed by Hasan Sardar along with the team management comprising Shahid Ali Khan (chief coach) and Asif Bajwa (manager) after Pakistan finished at the bottom in the World Cup, held in New Delhi, India. The entire national team also tendered resignation at the time.

He also reiterated that he has invited the Olympians who have been so critical of the federation to submit their suggestions for the betterment of the game within the next 15 days.

“I will be in a better position to invite them to discuss their proposals for implantation after receiving their suggestions,” Qasim said.

The Olympians launched a campaign against the PHF to sack PHF Secretary Asif Bajwa after the dismal performance in the World Cup. But the PHF president backed his secretary, saying that he can only be removed by the Congress and that, too, through a no-confidence motion.

He claimed that the Executive Board has also passed a resolution that the PHF will take no unconstitutional decisions.

The Board, according to him, has also asked the National Assembly and the Senate to raise the issue of providing employment to the national players. They also gave responsibility in this connection to Nawab Lashkari Raisani and Khushbakht Shujaat to take steps for implementing the orders of the Prime Minister's Secretariat. The Executive Board also constituted the Competition Committee under the Chairmanship of Secretary NWFP Hockey Association Syed Zahir Shah to prepare the annual activity calendar.

Meanwhile, former coach Shahid Ali Khan also presented his report on the World Cup fiasco. Qasim said Shahid, in his report, gave the reasons behind the World Cup defeat, saying Pakistan continuously played important tournaments throughout the past year while setting a target for each and causing fatigue to itself.

“We played the World Cup and Champions Trophy qualifiers as well as the Asia Cup in one year. We hit one target [World Cup qualifiers] and played in the finals of the two other events,” he said.

In addition, he said that Pakistan could not play a good number of matches against the strong teams of the World, especially those from Europe.

Qasim Zia said that after appointing a foreign coach, PHF will review renewing foreign consultant Wouter Tazelaar's contract. He also said that the Customs department had announced forming their team soon and have also laid Astroturf at their ground in Karachi, which is a good sign for the promotion of the sport as well as the players.

The Executive Board meeting was attended by PHF President Qasim Zia, Vice Presidents Nawab Lashkari Raisani, Saeed Khan, Barrister Shahida Jamil, Secretary Asif Bajwa, Associate Secretary Rana Mujahid Ali, Treasurer Khalid Rasool, Provincial Secretaries Rana Mujahid (Punjab), Syed Zahir Shah (NWFP), Rao Saleem (Sindh), Farooq Ahmad (Balochistan), President PHF Women's Wing Khushbakht Shujaat, Technocrats/experts Olympian Manzoor Jr., Asad Malik and Col Zafar Ahmad Zafri, Collector Customs representatives Fateh Mohammad and Director Army Sports Brig Iqtidar Tasneem.