Brasa was an asset to the team: Sardara
Player rubbishes former captain Rajpal’s remarks on the spaniard
Mohit Khanna
Tribune News Service
Fissures in the Indian hockey team have started to emerge. In the latest incident, key center-half Sardara Singh fired a fresh salvo at former captain Rajpal Singh for not taking the onus of the defeats in recently-concluded Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games. He expressed disappointment over Rajpal’s criticism of former hockey coach Jose Brasa and holding him accountable for the debacle.
Sardara, who was visiting the Jarkhar stadium on the opening day of the Games said Jose Brasa had been a catalyst for the Indian Hockey team. It was due to the Spaniard that the team could taste whatever success it did in the recently-concluded tournaments.
“The problem is not with the coaching. It is within us. We lose the crucial games. We did well through out the tournament during the Commonwealth and Asian Games in China, but we put up a poor show during the final stages when it mattered the most,” said Sardara.
He said it was Brasa who taught the skills of European hockey to Indian players that paid dividends. He said, “It is unfortunate that Brasa is being blamed for the debacle. He would have been an asset if he would have continued to serve the Indian hockey team.”
It has also come to light that both players, in a cautious attempt, tried to fend off the situation of encountering each other. According to the ogranisers of the Games, Rajpal Singh and Sardara Singh were scheduled to take the Game torch to the Jarkhar stadium. But Rajpal pulled out his name at the last moment and did not turn up at the stadium.