Times of India: Training with Sreejesh helped me a lot, says Akash Chikte

PUNE: Akash Chikte had to pinch himself hard when his name was announced for the Goalkeeper of the Tournament at the presentation ceremony of Asia Cup hockey in Dhaka on Sunday.

This was Chikte’s, 24, first international award and, it was obviously ‘special’.

“This has come as a big morale booster. I was under some pressure after our average show in the World League Semi-Finals in London earlier this year. Before the tournament, I had some really good goalkeeping sessions in Bangalore and it paid well I guess,” Chikte told TOI from Dhaka.

The Yavatmal-born player credited India No. 1 goalkeeper PR Sreejesh for his success in Dhaka.

“Since we didn’t have a goalkeeping coach ahead of this tournament, I trained with Sree bhai. He trained us so well that I could feel the difference when I played the matches. We had trained a lot for penalty corner defense and during the tournament, I conceded only one PC goal out of the 14 that I had faced,” he said.

The Bombay Engineer Group (BEG), Pune, recruit had played all seven games for India, sharing the halves with another BEG player, Suraj Karkera. “Since we both had to get match experience, it was necessary to play every opponent,” Chikte said.

The goalie, who had made his India debut two years ago in Sultan Azlan Shah tournament in Malaysia, said playing against Pakistan in the league round was a pressure moment.

“I was under pressure against Pakistan. They were playing well and there was a lot of hype created around the match. But we did well in the end,” he said.