Sreejesh and his quest for a third Olympic Games
BHUBANESWAR: PR Sreejesh has been competing with himself for a place in the Indian men’s hockey team all these years, and the goalkeeping stalwart says the real task now is to “keep up the motivation and performance (even) when you are not being pushed by competitors”.
With India set to play the crucial FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers against Russia on Friday and Saturday, Sreejesh will once again be the last line of defence, though if the home team’s current world ranking is an indicator, they should have little trouble making it to the Tokyo Olympics. While India is ranked fifth, Russia is 17 spots below at 22.
Given the 10-0 thrashing India meted out to Russia in their last encounter at the Kalinga Stadium in June during the FIH Men’s Series Finals, Sreejesh’s main task could be to observe moves from his vantage point and guide his teammates in the two encounters where the team scoring more goals will qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.
Sreejesh won’t forget the day when seven goals were pumped in the second session. He had come in as a second-half substitute and his teammates pumped in seven goals against Russia.
But he feels it could be a tough encounter on Friday and Saturday as Russia have nothing to lose.
SREEJESH FEELS IT COULD BE A TOUGH ENCOUNTER FOR INDIA ON FRIDAY AND SATURDAY AS RUSSIA HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE
STRONG CORE
“We have a good core, which has been playing for the last couple of years. We have a balanced side with some seniors and youngsters. But we can’t afford to get complacent against Russia as the recent results in the qualifiers have shown; lowerranked teams like Ireland, France and Pakistan have done very well in the first match,” said Sreejesh.
Ireland had defeated higherrated Canada 5-3 in the first encounter, France drew Spain 3-3, while Pakistan held the world’s No 3 ranked team Netherlands 4-4 in the first of their two encounters.
With 226 caps in a career spanning 13 years—sreejesh made his debut in 2006—the 33-year-old from Ernakulam district in Kerala is the secondmost capped player in the team and is relishes the opportunity to mentor young goalkeepers.
If India qualify for Tokyo,
Sreejesh will be playing his third—and probably his last— Olympics after 2012 and 2016.
He has seen the team go through several ups and downs in the last decade after touching a nadir in 2008 when India failed to qualify for the Beijing Olympics.
India has come a long way since, moving from 12th to fifth in world ranking and winning medals at the Asian Games (2014 gold), Champions Trophy (silver in 2016, 2017) Asia Cup, Asian Champions Trophy (gold in 2011, 2016, 2018; silver in 2012) and Commonwealth Games (silver 2010, 2014).
The success of teams like Argentina (2016 Rio Olympics gold medallists) and Belgium (2018 World Cup winners) has given Sreejesh hope that India too can excel at the highest level.
“But the team needs to work very hard and perform consistently against strong teams. In the last nine years we have moved from 12th to fifth in rankings but it has1 been a gradual improvement,” says Sreejesh.
“Though it has taken a long time to reach where we are, our main target now should be to get used to playing and winning topposition matches like quarterfinals and semi-finals, where we have always had some issues to tackle.
“During the 2018 World Cup, we went down in the quarter-finals… and also in 2016 Olympics. This thing (winning crucial matches) comes with experience.
“This Indian team, I think, is well placed; it has a large number of experienced players and some young players, who we need to guide so that they can reach the top level,” says Sreejesh.