LAHORE: The arrival of Pakistan’s Dutch hockey coach Michel van den Heuvel has been changed and the coach will now land on Feb 2 instead of Feb 5. Earlier, Michel was to go to Faisalabad to watch matches of the national hockey championship and conduct coaching course but Dawn has learnt that his programme has been changed and he would now attend a two-day meeting with PHF officials.
Sources said both the PHF and the coach wanted to review the previous contract which was signed last year between them.
As Pakistan won gold medal at the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, last year, under Michel’s coaching, he wanted to have a revised contract.
Dawn further learnt that the programme was changed as Michel wanted to sign a new contract with the PHF until the 2012 London Olympics.
The sources said though Michel had signed the contract until the Olympics when he joined the team last year, there was an article in the contract which allowed both the parties to review the contract after the 2010 Asian Games.
Another important point in the meeting would be to settle the issue of Dutchman’s security in Pakistan. According to sources, Michel’s concerns about security arose after Punjab Governor Salman Taseer’s assassination.
The PHF may offer Michel private security services after convincing him to stay in Pakistan and hold all training camps in the country.
Michel had preferred to remain away from the country and did not attend Asian Games’ victory celebrations because of security concerns.
The future of the national selection committee would also be in the points of the agenda, the sources further said.
The PHF had already disbanded the national selection committee which was headed by former Olympian Hanif Khan.
Currently a 4-member selection committee will evaluate players in the national championship.
