Rajpal Singh vs. Jose Brasa and Dhananjay Mahadik: Indian hockey drama intensifying day by day
Another player has joined the Rajpal Singh vs. Jose Brasa drama, one that began with a resignation and allegations being levelled at the Spanish-born Indian hockey coach Jose Brasa (whose contract expired on Tuesday).
It is a common practice in Indian hockey: defeats bring about firing of coaches, replacement of captains, and changes in the hockey management. Though the Indian hockey team delivered an outstanding performance in the league matches
of the recently concluded Asian Games, it failed to maintain the same level in the semi-final against Malaysia and was ousted from the gold medal race. Malaysia overpowered India in a stunning match and created history by qualifying for the first time in the
final of the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games.
Rajpal Singh resigned from the captaincy post claiming that chief coach Jose Brasa had constantly disgraced him in the previous tournaments, particularly in the World Cup, the Commonwealth Games and in the Asiad. He further said
that the Jose Brasa wanted to appoint Prabhjot Singh as captain of the Indian squad but selectors gave him the responsibilities of the team.
Jose Brasa rejected the allegations that he had regularly dishonoured Indian skipper Rajpal Singh, saying that he had never disgraced any player in his life. He further said that he wanted to appoint Prabhjot Singh as captain of
the team as he was best option at that time.
The situation became more severe when a letter written by the former Olympians to the Sports Authority of India (SAI) began circulated in the media, which had asked the sports authority to remove Jose Brasa from his post. The former
Olympians including Ajitpal Singh, Pravir Krishan, Zafar Iqbal, BP Govinda and Balbir Singh claimed that the Spaniard did not have the potential of international coaching and was creating disharmony among the team’s players.
The mudslinging crusade has been further intensified with the entry of a new thespian on the stage: defender and short-corner specialist Dhananjay Mahadik, who has chosen to become Brasa’s ally. Mahadik blamed Rajpal Singh for
missing out on a chance at gold at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games. He said, “Rajpal didn’t look like he wanted to win. He ruined our chances of beating Malaysia with some unnecessary fouls, which led to us conceding penalty corners. In extra-time we were down
to 10 men and this was mainly because of the fouls that Rajpal had conceded. That is why we lost.” He rejected the impression that Jose Brasa disgraced and humiliated the captain, saying that the chief coach had never dishonoured any player.
“I can speak for a majority in the team when I say that we never felt the coach criticized us. We never felt the coach targeted Rajpal either. Rajpal claims he was singled out and not given enough authority as captain but always
had a say in team meetings. At the same time, captaincy isn’t very important in hockey; all we needed was a motivator and we definitely didn’t get any motivation from Rajpal.”
The situation is becoming more severe as the days pass and it seems that the Spanish-born coach will not rejoin the Indian team, marking a bitter end to his association with Indian hockey. The ongoing drama will further disgrace
the sport in the country, which already seems to be breathing its last.
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