Olympians had sought Brasa’s removal

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Olympians Ajitpal Singh, Col. Balbir Singh, B.P. Govinda and Zafar Iqbal had called for the ‘sacking’ of Jose Brasa, the foreign coach of the Indian hockey team before the Commonwealth Games.

An email, circulated to the media on Tuesday, carried the contents of the letter written by these esteemed former players to the Sports Authority of India (SAI) on August 28.

“We strongly recommend that the services of Mr. Jose Brasa be discontinued immediately in the best interest of Indian hockey and the responsibility be handed over to (National coach) Mr. Harendra Singh,” said the Olympians.

Under Brasa’s guidance, India had finished eighth at the 2010 World Cup at home and earned a silver in the Commonwealth Games following an 8-0 thrashing at the hands of Australia in the final.

Aspiring to win the gold at the Asian Games in Guangzhou in order to claim a slot in the 2012 London Olympics, the Indian team could win only the bronze.

Accepting ‘moral responsibility’ for the poor show at Guangzhou, coach Harendra had resigned from his post while Brasa left for Spain on Tuesday after a meeting with Sports Ministry officials even as skipper Rajpal Singh accused the Spaniard of having ‘humiliated’ him repeatedly during the last World Cup and after.

A decision on Brasa’s future with Indian hockey is expected to be taken by the Union Government on December 3.

Ajitpal and Zafar had made the recommendations in their capacity as Government observers while Col. Balbir Singh and Govinda are National selectors. They informed the SAI that the decision had been arrived at after detailed discussions with the players and the coaching staff.

“He has exhausted his technical knowledge. He only possesses blackboard knowledge. He, however, can be useful for development at the grassroots level,” wrote the Olympians.

Brasa, who was contracted to be in charge of Indian hockey until the Asian Games, was accused of creating ‘disharmony’ in the team by leaving the players ‘uncertain’ about their respective roles. “The 2010 World Cup is a glaring example where his off-the-field interferences broke the team spirit and fanned groupism,” the Olympians stated.