Indian Hockey - MM Somaya; an admirer of Jose Brasa
Indian hockey is becoming more confused with every passing day as new characters are regularly joining the ongoing quandary for the appointment of a new coach. Frequent statements of recent and former players are adding to the miseries of Indian hockey,
which is already suffering due to failure in the last month’s Asian Games.
The search for the team’s next coach, whether local or foreign, wasn’t completed so far while the options for the post are rising day-by-day.
Following a defeat by Malaysia in the semi-finals of the Asiad, national coach Harendra Singh accepting the responsibility of the failure tendered his resignation while the contract of Chief Coach, Jose Brasa was expired last month, which has not been renewed
thus far.
Spanish-born coach of the Indian hockey team, Jose Brasa has not many supporters in India, but a former player, Maneyapanda Muthanna (MM) Somaya showed his support for him, which definitely made him happy.
Former Indian skipper, MM Somaya urged the authorities concerned to renew the contract of Jose Brasa, who was appointed at the seat back in May 2009. He trained the team for 18th months, which gained silver and bronze medals in the Commonwealth
and the Asian Games.
It is pertinent to mention here that the selectors and former great names of the field hockey including BP Govinda, Zafar Iqbal, Balbir Singh and Ajitpal Singh had written a letter to the officials of Hockey India asking them to remove the Spaniard from
his post prior to the Asian Gala.
Meanwhile, the situation further intensified after the defeat in the Asiad and Rajpal Singh levelled severe charges against Jose Brasa, who, rejected the allegations and flew back to home as his contract was expired.
MM Somaya was of the view that every coach should be given at least four-year time period for preparing a team and Spaniard had not even completed two years with the team.
Maneyapanda Muthanna Somaya, the 3-time Olympian was also part of the squad which clinched a gold medal in the Olympic Games held in Moscow in 1980.
MM Somaya said, “No one can hope to have a smooth ride as coach of the Indian hockey team, there is bound to be ups and downs, and some problems along the way. You've got to judge if those issues are big enough to warrant action."
The former skipper keeping in view the opposition of Jose Brasa by Rajpal Singh and the selectors stated that the authorities concerned should look over the positives of the Spaniard, who broke the deadlock of India hockey by achieving medals.
Applauding the role of Jose Brasa, Somaya was of the view that the ball possession and short passing techniques of the Indian hockey players had improved under the guidance of the Spaniard, which also delivered excellent results. He urged the authorities
to settle the issue at earliest in the best interests of the game.
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