Baton to Brasa
Mihir Vasavda
Monday, May 4:

Mumbai: When the trio of Harendra Singh, Romeo James and Ramandeep Singh took over the reigns of Indian hockey, the sport was in tatters — it had more detractors than supporters, the players’ confidence also touched an all time low.

Post Chile disaster, where India failed to qualify for the Beijing Games, incidents such as the Jyothi Kumaran’s bribery scandal brought shame to the national sport and it was enough to demoralise the players even more.

Starting from scratch, the troika has steadied the sinking ship and now pass the baton on to Spaniard Jose Brasa, who takes charge as the chief coach after the Asia Cup, to take it further.

The tasks for Harendra, Romeo and Ramandeep weren’t easy. First, they had to restore the self confidence among the players — which was a challenge in itself. Secondly, getting back towinning ways was imminent and lastly, with success in the first two, they had to bring the sport back in the news, for the good reasons.

Besides Harendra’s man-management skills, Romeo and Ramandeep have contributed immensely with their coaching experience. “It wasn’t easy for us. The players were completely demoralised and it took a lot of motivation talks to pep them up and get going,” Harendra said. Harendra on the other hand has always stood by his players, showed faith in Sandeep Singh by making in the captain even as the rest criticised the move and did not hesitate to shut the critics up, even if he was a senior member of the selection committee. His positive attitude, unlike many of his predecessors, and optimistic approach has had a encouraging impact on his players.

The innovative training methods adopted by Romeo and Ramandeep have breathed new life for some players’ careers. “Romeo sir made me practise with golf balls. That has improved my reflexes and it shows in my performance. For diving, we used Dunlop mattress. Crazy it may sound, but it has been quite helpful,” the Chandigarh lad said. Baljeet played second-fiddle to Adrian D’Souza for nearly two years and has been solid under the bars and undoubtedly been one of the pillars of India’s recent success story.

The arrival of a foreign coach was inevitable. Even Harendra has stressed that the insight a foreigner can bring, not many Indians can do that. “The rebuilding process is still on. We have a long way to go,” Romeo said. “He (Brasa) knows the European tactics and we expect him to implement them in the best way here,” he adds.

Bigger tests lay ahead for Brasa now when India will face Australia and Germany in Test series at home – the opponents India ought to beat if the dream to do well in World Cup has to be real.

The Indian team left for the Asia Cup in Malaysia on Sunday night from New Delhi and Brasa will be joining the team later in the week. The Indians will play a couple of friendly matches in run up to the tournament, which begins on May 9.