Does Brasa really have the brass to deliver Indian hockey

NAKED EYE

On Sunday night I watched a tense game of hockey between the bruisingArgentinians and India. India scraped through by a whisker, winning abronze. The good thing was that the ultimate winner - New Zealand -was held to a draw by India in its opening game. Some cheer at last, Ithough for a sport is completely beleaguered in India. That Indiastruggled to win a bronze in the bottom bucket oncontemporary hockey tells you how much we have slid over the years.The Champions Trophy featuring the top six teams which culminated daysbefore the Champions Challenge saw the top bucket battling it out.Much like Sisyphus, Indian hockey has been attempting to run theboulder to the top of the hill repeatedly. Sadly, it has faileddespite many different coaches including those of the foreign variety.
Over the last few months, Indian hockey has tried picking up thepieces with the induction of a Spanish coach Jose Brasa. A disastrousEuropean tour was followed by a successful series against theCanadians. That is not saying much because Canada like India arewooden spooners ranked at the very base of the hockey pyramid.However, The Champions Challenge in Salta has been relatively better,finishing third amongst eight could be described as creditable. Thebronze medal face off saw Raghunath, Dhananjay, Gurbaz, Tushar,Shivendra et al play a good game of hockey and come up trumps despitebeing down 0-2. A medal could be considered a booster shot. I noticedthat India played its usual brand of short passing hockey at the topand used the long passing version to rotate the ball from the deep. Iliked Dhananjay Mahadik's spirited finish to fetch India the matchwinner. India was given number six billing in the tournament, and Iguess it did well to finish third.
Every time India wins a medal in hockey, the old question of whetherwe have turned the corner is thrown into stark relief. We need tobuild on this finish. Now I don't know whether we have managed thisthird place finish due to Brasa's strategy and tactics or simply byplaying good old fashioned sub continental style hockey. Brasa beforeleaving on the European tour had said that India is going to learnhockey. I don't know what he meant by that. “We have to learn modernhockey. We have to change things to be in the top. We want to be inthe top four in the world,” he had said.Yes, Indian hockey has fallen on very bad times, in fact, it has hitboot strap level, but 'learning hockey' was a bit much. It was kind ofunpalatable. But Brasa has some ideas and it would do no harm inletting him try them. India has nothing to lose, we can't fall furtherin the world hockey order. We can only attempt to claw and climb back.Brasa himself has seen a veritable 'mutiny on the bounty' with asection of the senior players rebelling against him and his style ofimparting coaching. But there are two schools of thought, one inminority which believes that someone needs to crack the whip on Indianplayers and get them to imbibe the modern techniques in hockey,someone who reorients and recalibrates and brings new systems andprocesses to bear as far as fitness and drills are concerned. Indiansstill have the artistry and dribbling skills, but contemporary hockeyhas moved on. It is a very physical game. One of the goals scored byAustralia in the recent Champions Trophy said it all, a forwardsliding in to the D to smash the ball in. Of course there is also amajority which reckons that Brasa knows nothing and there is nothingthat he can do to improve Indian hockey. Worse still, they think thathe is here for love of money.
It is common knowledge that FIH president Leonardo Negre broughtpressure to bear on the Indian Olympic Association to accept fellowSpaniard Brasa as the new coach. Ever since the Jyothikumaran briberyepisode and the sacking of KPS Gill as IHF boss and the subsequentcreation of Hockey India, Negre's writ has run large on Indian hockey.Many former hockey players like Aslam Sher Khan and Ashok Kumar areupset at this.They cannot accept IOA's role in undermining theerstwhile Indian Hockey Federation. But that is hardly of anyimportance. What is important is whether Brasa can actually liftIndian hockey from the morass that it finds itself ensconced in. AtPune when the alleged revolt took place, Brasa was quick to douse thefires and dismiss the notion completely. Which was a good thing. Wewant results, that is the only thing that matters. However, Brasa isunhappy with the slow pace with which Sports Authority of India works,Brasa also criticised the way Indian hockey players were beingtreated at the Salta camp. "I have complained many a time about thefood menu for the players and no one seems to be listening. Playersare getting almost same type of food everyday. The chicken given tothem is no more than bones. I don't understand this. I have prepared amenu for the players but no one follows that. I don't understand whenthings will change," he fumed.
Spot on Mr Brasa. You too have discovered the way Indian sport is run.Deep into the ground. So, is the problem only with the way our hockeyplayers perform? Is it lack of skill and style? Is it training drillsand match play? While all these things may be a problem, in many waysthe administrative mainframe which is supposed to support the playerson the field is a bigger malaise. The administration is dysfunctional,it doesn't care. It is oblivious. The camp in Balewadi, Pune was likea war zone. Some of the reports though exaggerated had the hoi polloiconcerned. It was said that seniors in the Indian hockey side wereunhappy with Jose Brasa. It seemed that captain Sandeep Singh haddifferences with Brasa over drag-flicks. The captain then pulled outof the camp citing back problem as the reason. Sandeep reportedlysaid, “I don’t want to talk about my back problem before I speak toHockey India officials.” Five players, including Ignace Tirkey andPrabodh Tirkey, who were not in the squad for Salta, were also miffedwith Brasa. New captain Rajpal Singh refused to discuss the issue, butdenied discontent in the team. “We have a good rapport with the coachboth on and off the field,” he said. A HI insider said that fissureshave developed in the team as some players are backing Brasa whileothers are finding fault with his coaching methods.Which meant that asection of the older players were dead against Brasa's methods, whilethe younger lot were eager to learn. So, if Bras has managed a thirdplace finish at Salta without these senior players, it is their lossand not the country's. Results are the only that matter to a nationstarved of good news on the hockey front. India beat Argentina 3-2after being pulverised 6-3 by Pakistan in the semi finals. Normally,Indians wilt after an onslaught of this kind, but they kept theirnerve to vanquish Argnetina which is now considered a dangerous side.in world hockey.

Bras has a bone to pick with SAI. That is what IOA boss Suresh Kalmadineeds to focus on. Of course, his immediate concern should be theelections on January 29. Like in most sports disciplines, thefragmented nature of Indian hockey administration replete with'players' is cause for worry. India has an unbelievable opportunity atredeeming itself. Hero Honda and SAIL have come together to sponsorthe hockey World Cup in February. In October, we have another shot atredemption with the Commonwealth Games and of course thereafter thereis the ASian Games to look forward to. Brasa's young team has threeshots at redemption. The Champions Challenge result needs to be lookedat as an edifice for this future. The IOA and SAI need to supportBrasa and the players by giving him whatever he requires instead oftrying to trip him. As I said before, it cannot get any worse afternot being able to qualify for the Beijing OLympics; it can only getbetter. Give Brasa and the boys a chance. If it is strike 3 at the endof the Asian Games in Guangzhou, then sack him.