Charlesworth tried to dissuade Brasa

May 4th, 2009

NEW DELHI – If Spaniard Jose Brasa had heeded the advice of India’s former technical advisor Ric Charlesworth he would not have been here to coach the eight times Olympic hockey champions.

Ric Charlesworth, apparently tried to dissuade Brasa from going to India narrating his own experience of dealing with the Union sports ministry and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).

‘I have been in touch with him and he advised me not to go to India,’ Brasa told IANS on arrival here Monday.

Charlesworth was the technical adviser of the team on the recommendation of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) but his stint was all too brief as he had to quit in controversial circumstances after a blow-up with the officials of the Sports Authority of India and the IOA.

The Indian hockey team was without a chief coach after Joaquim Carvalho resigned in March last year after India failed to qualify for the Olympics for the first time in 80 years.