Veteran India goalkeeper P R Sreejesh needs to compete on the Paris Olympics however stated on Saturday so much will depend upon his health and efficiency within the run-up to the 2014 Games.
The 33-year-old from Kerala was lately given the perfect goalkeeper award in males’s part on the FIH annual awards for his efficiency in India’s historic bronze medal-winning feat on the Tokyo Olympics.
Asked if he can be enjoying on the Paris Olympics, Sreejesh stated: “No participant will say no to an Olympics, we’re grasping folks. The motivation will at all times be to work exhausting and provides greatest.
“I have had a career of 21 years. So I will always want to play one more match, one more Olympics so as long as my team members don’t kick me out, I will stay in the team for sure,” he quipped.
During the India Today conclave, he added, “But nothing is certain in a sportsperson’s life. There can be an injury, performance can go down, others can do better than me.”
Sreejesh’s former teammates Rupinder Pal Singh, Birendra Lakra and SV Sunil had lately retired following a profitable Olympic marketing campaign to pave the best way for the children.
When India skipper Manpreet Singh was posed the identical query, the captain stated: “He is going to Paris from our side. Sreejesh is the best goal keeper, so we would want him to be there at the goal. We have the confidence in him but rest depends on his fitness and other things.”
Sreejesh, who has proven the power to get higher with time, has little question that each the lads’s and girls’s groups will make the rostrum on the 2024 Games, however says the highway forward shall be harder.
“The motivation will at all times be there to alter the color of the medal in Paris. But the highway just isn’t simple. We had received a medal 41 years in the past and after that Indians despatched us to Olympics with plenty of expectations.
“Now that we have now proved we are able to win, the expectations shall be increased once we go to Paris. But it received’t be simple, it doesn’t occur in a single day.
“The women’s team was unlucky to miss out this time but definitely I am confident that both teams will finish at the podium in Paris.”
Sreejesh had pulled off a surprising save within the last few seconds of the bronze medal match towards Germany at Tokyo.
Recollecting these six seconds, he stated: “When we obtained that PC, our response was like what is going to occur now, there was an opportunity that it could actually slip away however there was not a lot time to assume. We needed to defend. I used to be planning my defensive construction wanting on the opposition.
“As a goalkeeper I had my own things, to focus and I was just thinking that I have been playing for so many years, so I just have to save this one.”
While the lads’s crew received a medal, their feminine counterparts missed out narrowly, ending a creditable fourth after dropping 3-4 to defending champions Great Britain within the bronze-play play off.
India girls’s crew skipper Rani stated the disappointing marketing campaign on the 2016 Rio Games was the turning level for the aspect.
“For us, 2016 was first Olympics, we didn’t win any match and I think it was a turning point for us because we learnt how to handle pressure in such big event and this was a different Olympics because we lost first three matches but still had the self-belief,” she stated.
“We lost holland and germany but we played good hockey and this gave us the confidence that we can beat other teams and that belief carried us through against Australia.”
Goalkeeper Savita Punia additionally echoed her views.
“We had certified after 36 years in 2016 Olympics however there was no efficiency. I used to be not pleased with my efficiency so within the subsequent 4-5 years we wished to do one thing.
“The England match we didn’t play nicely and on hindsight due to that match, we did nicely within the subsequent video games. Our coach was so upset that he didn’t have lunch with us.
“So Ireland match was extra vital than quarterfinals, which was a stress match. We knew Australia is an effective crew, they had been increased ranked, so stress was on then.
“We were also confident because we had lost a close match against Australia in 2018 Commonwealth Games, so we just wanted to do better, there was no option.”