PR Sreejesh has helped the team win the inaugural Asian Championship and then helped India qualify for the Olympics after he averted all the dangers in the finals against France in the qualifiers standing in front of the goalpost.
His performance has earned him his maiden Olympic berth as he would be the other custodian in the team along with the skipper Bharat Chetri. He would definitely get a lot of chance to prove himself on the biggest stage as Sreejesh is surely to start in few matches.
Sreejesh spoke to Samikshan Dutta Choudhury of Indian Sports News about Olympics, preparations and more on the side lines of a function hosted by Hockey India to felicitate former Olympians.
Excerpts:
ISN: First Olympics for you. How are you feeling?
Sreejesh: Well it is a great feeling. I am high on confidence and feel very positive. I am working very hard on my game and I hope that I could live up to the expectations of the people and contribute to the team’s success.
ISN: Team India has been playing good hockey off late. So what are your expectations from the team?
Sreejesh: Yes we have been performing well for quite some time now and the team is in high spirit before going to the Olympics. We have two test events in France and Spain coming up and we would get some crucial match practice there as well. The competition is tough but even we are no underdogs. We are going to London to win and we would put our best foot forward to achieve that goal.
ISN: How much does the rendezvous with the Golden Greats of Indian Hockey before leaving for Olympics going to help?
Sreejesh: This is something surreal. Meeting Indian legends like Leslie Claudius, Keshav Dutt amongst others who are the role model for the game before Olympics is so motivating. The words of wisdom that they shared with out tonight, their expectations on us, blessing would help a great deal to us in London.
ISN: Nobbs has instilled an attacking style into the team. Do you think the team can physically sustain for 70 odd minutes playing the attacking style?
Sreejesh: Yes we are fit and people can’t just say that we are can sustain 70 minutes playing that kind of game. We have fitness experts and physios who work on our fitness and even we stick to this style even in practice. So it will not be a problem for us.
ISN: Sreejesh defence has been a weak link for the team. It has been heard that Dilip Tirkey would join the Olympic team as a manager and would help you help all with defence?
Sreejesh: I cannot say who is joining the team, but then I can see that if a senior person joins the think-tank of the team. While playing we do not understand where do we lag and need to rectify but then if there is someone who can see it from outside and suggest us points, then we can surely put right the problems.
