January 18, 2008	Friday	Muharram 08, 1429

LAHORE, Jan 17: Former Olympian Islahuddin Siddiqui, Samiullah Khan and former secretary Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) Col (retd.) Mudassar Asghar are likely to form the next national selection committee, Dawn learnt here on Thursday.

Chances for their new roles with the PHF have brightened since all three have been assigned duties as selectors at three different venues in the preliminary rounds of the National Championship, starting from Jan 22.

Islah will go to Faisalabad while Samiullah will be watching the boys’ performance in the preliminary round organised at the regional level. Meanwhile, Mudassar will act as the national selector in Peshawar, where the preliminary round for the departments starts from Jan 26.

As no such role has been assigned to the current chief selector Khawaja Zakauddin and member Rashid Junior in the premier domestic event of the country, it seems the PHF has made up its mind to create a new selection committee while only retaining Samiullah from the existing one.

Zakauddin, who took over as chief coach-cum-manager of the national team during the Champions Trophy in Kuala Lumpur has relinquished the charge since and is awaiting his new assignment.

Sources said that a final decision on the selection committee will be taken soon after PHF Secretary Khalid Mahmood resumes duty following his recent bypass surgery.