PUNE: Indian hockey chief coach Jose Brasa on Sunday said the apathy of the officials had prevented the appointment of a sports psychologist for the
team.

“I am of the view that the team needs a psychologist who will talk to each of the players one on one and not address them in a team meeting. A psychologist should be with the team full time,” he told reporters.

“Eneko Larumbe (a Spanish) was to be in India by September 16, but he is still losing weight waiting for a phone call. He (Larumbe) had a talk with the officials of Hockey India about his appointment, but the second talk about his visa and tickets is yet to happen,” Brasa said.

Asked whether the team will seek his services when they move on to Spain, where they are scheduled to play three practice matches, he said, “That won’t be possible. The rules here say that he must first come to Delhi to sign the contract.”

Taking a dig at the way hockey is being run in India by its administrators, Brasa said he was happy with the team’s performance though it could have performed better if not for the apathy of the officials.

“Everybody including the Minister, secretary, joint secretary had promised us that we will get all the material ready once we come back from Canada. I think no one knows that we have returned from Canada,” he said.

“I think we have improved a little bit (since his taking over the team). We should have improved more but for the equipment provided to us. With the equipment we have, we have performed very well,” Brasa said.

“All that we had used for were tools like the GPRS, and laptops to work on the matches,” he added.

Brasa criticised the selectors’ decision to experiment with new players during the tours of Europe and Canada as it did not help in having a settled outfit.

“To test players you need to play at home. You cannot change them abroad. Six players out of the 22 selected for the Canada tour were new. It means almost 20-30 per cent of the team had been changed.”

Asked about the targets he had set for the team, he said, “My target is to get the Indian team into the the top four by 2010.”

About things that he would like to change in the way hockey is played in India, he said, “The most difficult things is the way things are organised here. The players play in a natural way. They do the same every match. Also they tend to play alone. Team work is more important for co-ordination.

“We are also trying to mix the Indian attack with the European defence,” he added.

He said the team will not only play for a win in the Champions Challenge I tournament in Argentina but also to improve its rankings.

“This is the first official competition as the coach of the Indian team. I’m very happy that my debut for India is coming,” the Spaniard said.

“Our aim is not only to win the tournament but to jump higher in world rankings that will ensure that we are placed in Group B in the next year’s World Cup. We have an opportunity to leapfrog over Canada but it is difficult to go past Argentina even if we win all our matches as they would have to finish last for us to do so,” he said.

The 22-member Indian team will participate in the eight-nation event in Salta, Argentina from December 6-13, the winner of which will qualify for next year’s Champions Trophy.

India will play their first group match against New Zealand on December 6 before taking on China (December 8) and Belgium (December 10). The final will be played on December 13.

The Indian team will leave for Madrid on November 23 for a one-week training-cum-competition tour en-route Salta.