Brasa’s dream

Uthra G Chaturvedi

Last year’s Asia Cup in Malaysia was Jose Brasa’s first outing with the Indian hockey team. He hadn’t taken charge then, but had been appointed and wanted to tour with the team to see them in action in a major competition before taking over as the chief coach.

India lost to Pakistan there in the league stages and the players were understandably downcast. But it was surprising to see Brasa, as an outsider, being equally emotive about it. “More than anything else, I now have a dream – to make sure that this was India’s last defeat to Pakistan. I want to make sure that, now one, India will never, ever lose to Pakistan. Because I was with the coach and the players that day, and I saw the way they were laughing, mocking India, the team, the coach, everyone. I am all for rivalries on field but not when there is disrespect to the opposition off it. And if I feel this way, I can imagine what the players felt, what Indians feel. I don’t want them to experience that feeling ever again,” he had told me back then, after the game — it wasn’t a coincidence that I happened to be the only person from India there.

Since then, India have played Pakistan five times, all at important tournaments – the champions challenge in Salta last year and this year, the Azlan Shah Cup, the World Cup, the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games. And, barring Salta where the team went with hardly any preparation, India have comprehensively beaten Pakistan everywhere.

It’s understandable that an India-Pakistan hockey match brings out emotions like little else; but it’s equally a fact that, for long, Pakistan held the upper hand in all those encounters. To put the recent results in perspective, India-Pakistan have played close to 150 games against each other, with Pakistan winning close to 80 matches about 30 ending in a draw. (Accurate statistics in India hockey are as difficult as finding a replacement to Sachin Tendulkar)

Which makes Brasa’s stint here as the chief coach – the Asian Games are, for all purposes, likely to be his last assignment – all the more creditable. It may be true that India have not won the big tournaments but they have improved; and, if nothing else, Brasa can claim to have kept at least one promise he made – India have not suffered the ignominy of losing to Pakistan under him.