Times of India: PR Sreejesh hopes to raise the bar for Rio
10 Dec 2015
Prasanth Menon
KOCHI: One man who has held centre stage in Indian hockey team’s achievements in the recent past is PR Sreejesh. Be it the 2011 Asian Men’s Champions Trophy triumph in China, the 2014 Asian Games gold in Busan, Korea, or the bronze medal in the Hockey World League finals in Raipur last Sunday, the Indian goalkeeper has excelled under the bar.
One thing common in all these wins is that they came via penalty shootouts and it was Sreejesh’s stunning saves that helped India corner glory.
So what makes Sreejesh click in shootouts? “(Laughs) I am lucky I guess and you need plenty of luck in shootouts. We practice for shootout situations during training. I see who is taking the penalty from the opposition. Then I mentally make a note of that particular player’s strength and weakness which I would have analysed during regulation time.
Once he swings into action, I just watch the ball and concentrate on thwarting his attempt whichever way I can. Keeping the right balance and good footwork are the key. Experience comes in handy and it helped me against the Dutch on Sunday,” the Indian vice-captain told TOI after arriving in Kochi.
Sreejesh admits that he wasn’t at his best in the tournament but his performance is all the more remarkable considering the fact that he was nursing a bruised knee and a shoulder injury in the last two games India played in HWL finals.
“I got a couple of knocks on my knee as we were warming up for the game against Belgium. I was under pain. Roelant (Oltmans) came up to me and asked whether I can take the field and I told him I will play. Once you enter the field, you forget about your pain. Having said that, I feel a goalkeeper at my level shouldn’t have conceded that goal against Belgium (Cedric Charlier scored between his legs in the semifinal). But there is no point in worrying once you have committed an error. So I was keen to do well in the play-off and I am happy that I could play a part in India getting a bronze medal,” added the Kochi lad.
India showed signs of resilience in the tournament as they beat Great Britain in the quarterfinals after finishing last in their group. Then in the quarterfinals, they trailed 0-2 against the Netherlands before launching a stunning comeback to take a 5-3 lead in the game before their opponents slammed two goals in the dying moments of regulation time to take the game into a shootout.
Sreejesh attributes it to a ‘hunger for win’ from the team. “Gone are the days when teams used to take us lightly. We have beaten almost all top teams in the world recently and our rivals now consider as a fearless lot. There are a lot of young players in the squad and they are hungry to win at any cost.”
The 27-year old admits that the frequent change of coaches has not helped Indian hockey but feels the players have got used to it. “Unfortunately for one reason or the other our coaches have not stayed with us for long. I think Roelant will be the guy guiding us in Rio (Olympics). He has asked us to employ a European style of defence and play an (Indian) attacking game with a lot of flair up front. It is yielding results and results are what that counts,” added Sreejesh.
Sreejesh feels the India’s win over Netherlands and England have come at the right time but feels that there is still scope for improvement. “There are areas where we can improve. Our endeavor will be to work on our shortcomings in the coming months. We have a tendency to concede early on and it is time that we address that. I will also be looking to improve my goalkeeping,” he said.
However, he knows that all the improvement he is talking about in Indian hockey would come to nothing if they don’t come up with a creditable show in Rio next year. “An Olympic medal is our target. We are good enough to finish top-six now. Our endeavor is to be consistent. If we raise our bar in Rio, a medal is not beyond us,” signs off Sreejesh.