LAHORE, Oct 21: While Olympian Hasan Sardar is a strong candidate to head the three-member selection committee full-back Khalid Bashir and Farhat Khan are likely to be the members to assist the chief selector, reliable sources told Dawn on Tuesday.

The newly elected president Pakistan Hockey Federation Qasim Zia and secretary Asif Bajwa held a detailed meeting at the PHF offices on Tuesday and have almost finalised the three names. However, they are awaiting a reply from Shahbaz Senior, who has been offered the post of coach of the senior team. If Shahbaz declines the offer,Qamar Ibraheem will be asked to take the post, sources said.

Hasan, a well known centre-forward, who played for Pakistan from 1979 to 87 was tipped to become secretary PHF but after Asif Bajwa succeeded in grabbing the coveted post, Hasan was the main choice as chief selector.

Full-back Khalid Bashir and striker Farhat Khan, both have played in the same national team as their international career sprang from 1985 to 93. Farhat played from 1985 to 93 while Khalid from 1987 to 93.

Qamar Ibraheem represented the country from 1987 to 93 as barring Hasan Sardar, all are relatively youngsters with formidable challenges ahead.

Qasim Zia and Asif Bajwa are below 50 also and it appears that seniors like Shahnaz Sheikh, Islahuddin Siddiqi and various others will not feature in the new PHF set-up.

Pakistan are currently ranked sixth at Asia and eighth at world.