Kaushik likely to be men's hockey coach

New Delhi:

Olympian M K Kaushik has a clear edge over Harendra Singh, A K Bansal and A B Subbaiah to take over as the new coach of the senior men's hockey team.

The ad-hoc selection committee, headed by Ajit Pal Singh, on Tuesday held a marathon six-and-half-hour long meeting here to discuss the next coach besides shortlisting 48 probables who would be groomed for the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

"Apart from selecting the players, we also discussed about the next coach and though nothing is finalised yet, Kaushik is undoubtedly the front-runner," Ajit Pal said after the meeting.

Ajit Pal and his panel colleagues Zafar Iqbal, Ashok Kumar, Aslam Sher Khan and Dhanraj Pillay also identified the talents for the 2010 Games but the ad-hoc committee of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) would take a final decision on both the issues on Wednesday.

"We have shortlisted 48 players today, but the names are yet to be passed by the ad-hoc committee," he added.

Ajit Pal said though the panel had already identified the future talents, they would also keep an eye on next year's Junior World Cup and might pencil in youngsters from there as well.

The Olympian said a clearer picture on both the matters would emerge on Wednesday when the ad-hoc committee takes a final call on both the issues.

"One or two ad-hoc committee members were present today but in tomorrow's meeting we are expecting all of them," said Ajit Pal.