India, who were the joint winners along with South Korea in the last edition of the event, finished a lowly sixth out of seven teams in the Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh, Malayia earlier this month.

No sooner had it happened, alarm bells started to ring in the HI circles which held a marathon day-long review meeting of its coaching and development committee at a hotel here.

“We had our coaching and development meeting today to review the team’s performance in the Azlan Shah Cup. We had detailed discussions about various issues,” HI secretary general Batra told reporters.

“(During the meeting) we came to a consensus that we need foreign expertise. So, we have formed a five-member committee to rope in a candidate within 15 days,” he said.