India won their first Olympic medal in men's field hockey since 1972 at Tokyo 2020, with goalkeeper PR Sreejesh playing a crucial role in their bronze victory.
NEW DELHI: India achieved a historic milestone by winning their first Olympic medal in men's field hockey since 1972, securing a bronze at Tokyo 2020. Goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, a key figure in India's triumph, shared insights into their medal win, his injuries, and the challenges of returning to peak fitness. During a discussion with Cricket World Cup winner Dinesh Karthik on JioCinema’s ‘Get Set Gold’, Sreejesh detailed the arduous journey he faced between Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, which was marred by a severe knee injury in 2017.
“In a tournament in 2017, Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, we played against Australia, and I had a collision with one of their players. I suffered an ACL, MCL, and meniscus tear on my right knee. The next day, I took an MRI scan for the injury and the coach came and said, ‘Sree, it's a grade 3 injury.’ Grade 3 means you can't rehab it, you need to go for a reconstruction surgery. Then, as long as I knew about the ACL injury, it's a career-threatening one,” Sreejesh said. Sreejesh faced numerous challenges while recovering from his injury, including concerns about being replaced during his absence. However, the birth of his son brought about a change in his perspective, as he shared with Karthik.
“At that time, I was the captain of the team. Everything was going smoothly, but suddenly this happened. It was a dark time. Suddenly, you're nowhere and you have a lot of negativities in your mind. And you know how the media is, in one tournament, where the other goalkeeper plays well, they'll replace you. They'll forget you, and then start writing that, ‘We've got a new wall of Indian hockey.’ "Then I thought, ‘What should I do now?’ Luckily, I was blessed with a boy at that time. So, I spent that first month with him and that was a good distraction for me. Then I started to read. I read Open by Andre Agassi. I read that he went through so many injuries and came back to become world number one. Then somewhere, I felt like, okay, you can also do that," the goalkeeper said. Tokyo 2020 marked India’s most significant achievement in field hockey in decades, with Sreejesh playing a central role. He reflected on the emotional moment when they restored Olympic glory to Indian hockey. “It was like a relief. They scored, we scored, that was like a tennis match… In the last few seconds, the technical table made an error and the stopwatch stopped. But the umpire asked us to play on. There was a penalty corner with six seconds left. Then it's all about, the goalkeeper…... I was like, we got one more match, we got one more chance to win a medal. "And before the match, in the team meeting, Graham (Reid), our team coach, had said, ‘Everyone stand on their chairs. Just close your eyes and feel it like somebody is putting that bronze medal.’ Everyone got goosebumps at that moment. You feel, okay, we are getting it and just go for it. If I close my eyes, I can still feel that moment. I was like, okay, we got a medal, what is next? The team is capable of winning a medal in Paris, but the journey towards that, it's not easy. The one who takes advantage on the day will be the real champion," he said Sreejesh is expected to represent India in men’s hockey in Paris 2024. India are slotted in Group B with Belgium, Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, and Ireland, as they hope to make a deep run into the medal rounds.
