Coach Brasa humiliated again

Satya Siddharth Rath

MUMBAI: After guiding the Indian hockey team to a silver medal finish — its first ever at the Commonwealth Games — the least chief coach Jose Brasa could have asked for was humiliation. Sadly, the people who control our sporting set-up don’t think that way.

So on Friday, a day after the Games ended, when the hockey team went to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, one person was missing from the 17-member delegation: chief coach Brasa. National coach Harendra Singh was given the honour of introducing the team to the PM instead. The Spaniard’s name didn’t even figure in the official invite list – which had the names of all 16 players besides Harendra – sent out by the Sports Authority of India!

When asked about Brasa’s omission, SAI put the blame on the PMO (Prime Minister’s Office). “They asked us to restrict the number of people and insisted on an Indian coach accompanying the team. We had no option but delete a few names from the list,” a SAI source, who didn’t want to be named, gave the strange explanation.

It’s another matter that such reasoning didn’t apply to other disciplines. The Indian gymnastics team was accompanied by all the coaches, including foreign coach Vladimir Chertkov. The boxing side too went to meet the PM in full strength, with foreign coach Cuban Blas Iglesius Fernandes besides the other Indian coaches. Why, then, wasn’t the hockey team, which apart from Brasa and Harendra, has three other specialised coaches in Romeo James, Clarence Lobo and Jugraj Singh, not accorded the same status?

Brasa, who left for Madrid on Saturday morning, was unavailable for comment but team sources say he was visibly upset. “He was shocked when told that his name was not there in the invite list. He, in fact, was all dressed up to go,” said the source. The other coaches, too, sounded disappointed. “We have been with this team for the last one-and-half years, so it a bit upsetting. But then, we can’t do much about it,” said one of them.

True, the crushing 8-0 defeat to Australia in the final was India’s worst-ever, but then, the silver was also the men’s team’s best-ever finish at the CWG. Also, along the way they annihilated archrivals Pakistan by a record 7-4 margin. They also beat European champions England in the semifinals. But then, such ‘mundane’ things, it seems, don’t count for much, as far as the people at SAI are concerned.