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The Indian men’s hockey team was going through a transition stage when PR Sreejesh made his international debut in 2006. There was an apparent downfall in the performance of the team post the 2004 Athens Olympics, where the Indian team had finished seventh.
The team didn’t qualify for the 2008 Olympics since they began taking part in the Summer Games in 1928. The certainty of P R Sreejesh, who was only 20 in those days and in the underlying period of his vocation, would have taken a significant fall because of this. Nonetheless, the boy from Ernakulam was all set to put in all the hard yards to be the best.
At the 2012 London Olympics, the Indian team hit a new low as they didn’t dominate a solitary game in the entire tournament and finished last. The lamentable mission prompted a significant change in the Indian men’s hockey team.
“It was not so easy because when I started my career in 2006 in the senior team definitely at that time we were performing well but it was not a consistent performance and in 2008 we couldn’t qualify for the Olympics in 2012 when we qualified we couldn’t win a match so there was a disaster period yet that was the learning period for us under José Brasa the first foreign coach was from Spain he laid down the base for us and from there were a lot of international coaches there were a lot of Indian coaches who worked really hard whose contribution helped us to reach till 2021 Tokyo bronze medal,” he said.
From 2014 to 2016, Sreejesh was ostensibly at the pinnacle of his game as he made a few astounding recoveries in significant tournaments for India. After a disillusioning loss at the Rio Olympics, Sreejesh moved his concentration towards the Tokyo Olympics.“Goalkeepers take time to perform. I mean fortunately I got opportunities in my early stage so that provided me a lot of experience and in 2016 when I got the charge – they named me the captain but being a senior most player I was just waiting for a medal or just waiting for a wonderful performance,” he said on asking about his transition from 2016 to 2021.”
“Especially in Olympics because that is where Indian hockey lacked because we won Asian games, we won a medal in the commonwealth games, champions trophy, we won a medal but we couldn’t get a major win like world cup or Olympic Games,” he added.
His preparations hit a significant end as he experienced an anterior cruciate ligament injury in 2017. For Sreejesh, who was 30 at that time, made a comeback amidst young goalkeepers who were taking goliath steps in the homegrown circuit.
Yet, the conqueror that P R Sreejesh is, he made a comeback for the Indian team in 2018. He assumed a crucial part as India won a silver medal at the 2018 Champions Trophy in Netherlands.“So that’s the time we all felt I mean that core group we carried that core group from almost four to five years, so we had a very good bonding in between the players we had very good rapport we played like real champions but unfortunately with the small errors we missed that Olympics semi-finals so definitely that pain remains a lot.”
“From 2008 and from that to 2012 then to 2016 but in 2021 when we won that medal I think helped us to realize how valuable this medal is for us and that five years nothing changed we were doing, same training we were yeah definitely there were changes with the coaches but we were training the same, we were working hard we were spending a lot of time in the camps the only things changed I felt it as a mentality and the youngsters who played this Olympics game they stepped up and they showed their talent when the team really required it.”
He put forth that one major effort to lead India to the long-awaited historic medal. He set forth some colossal saves in those two quarters. Sreejesh made a splendid save not long before the hooter went out as India crushed Germany 5-4 in the bronze medal match of the men’s hockey tournament at the Tokyo Olympics. The Indian keeper had to defend eight penalty corners during the game.
“All I did was analyze the opposition and how they are standing where their best flicker is. Lastly, I am the goalkeeper so I do have my own duty so I was thinking about what can I do to stop this goal so I was thinking about all the basics and then just one sentence came into my mind and I said to myself ‘Sreejesh you worked really hard for 21 years and that all hard work whatever sacrifice you made it’s just for this one save’ and luckily that was not a best flick from him but yeah that was my day and I saved it.”
Sreejesh climbed up the goal post to celebrate when his teammates cried and embraced each other in delight. It was now or never as he needed to have an Olympic medal following 21 years of hard work.
“Goal-keeping is a different kind of job or a game plan. What we do on the hockey field it’s a different game. Once you concede a goal or if you make a save after that you do get a lot of time to think about that, so goalkeeping is more about mind setup. In my career I spent all the time standing in front of that goal post and guarding that goal post.”
“We do have a very good rapport. It is like a friendship, it’s like a brotherhood. I used to talk to my goal post and even abuse it at times. When we won the medal, I felt it was the moment to celebrate with my best buddy and how can you do that? Climb on it, sit on it and just celebrate it.”
It was fitting that the Great Wall of India, P R Sreejesh, had the last hand in driving the Indian team to an Olympic bronze medal. Even though Sreejesh believes that being a goalkeeper can be a difficult job, we can only express gratitude towards for all the glory that he has brought to the country.
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