ISLAMABAD, Jan 9: The newly-appointed Dutch consultant, Wouter Tazelaar, will also assist and coach the senior hockey squad.

Tazelaar, 41, a trainer and coach, has been hired by the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) on a two-year contract to revive the declining standard of the game in the country.

The green shirts who were once the powerhouse of world hockey, are at the eighth place in the International Hockey Federation’s (IHF) world rankings.

The official spokesman of the PHF told Dawn on Friday, “Tazelaar will coach and assist the senior hockey squad on event-to-event basis and we will help us as per requirements.”

Currently, the PHF has the services of head coach Ayaz Mahmood, assistant coaches Kamran Ashraf and Shahbaz junior for the national team.

The Dutch consultant, he said, would also assist the senior team coaches and his advice would be of great help for building a strong team.

Pakistan have the experience of foreign coaches as they had won the 1994 World Cup in Sydney under a Dutchman, Hans Jorritsma.

Another Dutchman Roelant Oltmans also coached Pakistan in 2004.

“The senior hockey team will definitely benefit from Tazelaar’s knowledge regarding modern hockey and learn the technicalities involved in it,” he said.

Olympian Rehan Butt when asked to comment on the recent development said: “PHF has taken a very good step and the Dutch official will help Pakistan’s hockey to regain its lost glory on the international hockey map.”

The Dutchman should be given some time to get accustomed with the hockey management and the players.

Rehan, who was also recently declared as the best Asian player by the Asian Hockey Federation, said: “In Pakistan, our psychology is to get immediate results from a foreign coach and this thinking must be changed now.”

“You have to give a foreign coach more time, and in my opinion, give him more than two years to give better results,” he said.