India hockey goalkeeper PR Sreejesh is in the last leg of his career, and the 35-year-old would only like to sign off with even better performances, than what he has managed so far. He is determined to win the Asian Games gold and wants to qualify for Paris 2024 directly. Not limiting himself to that, Sreejesh wants to win a gold medal at the Olympics too.
“Obviously, next year’s Olympics is my main target and I want to change the colour of my medal there. But having said that, we need to qualify through the Asian Games (to Olympics) so that we get ample time to prepare ourselves,” Sreejesh told PTI.
“I am right now taking one game, one tournament at a time. As (Novak) Djokovic said, 35 is the new 25. So, I’m definitely there,” he said.
Having handled the duties under the goalpost of the Indian hockey team for more than 17 years, Sreejesh wants to groom the next generation of goalkeepers in India.
“Krishan (Bahadur Pathak) and I have been donning the goalkeeping responsibilities for a long time. We share a good rapport. There are upcoming goalkepeers like Suraj Karkera and Pawan Malik who are good and will only get better with time. I just want to ensure that there is enough back-up,” he said.
The Indian men’s hockey team goalkeepers, including Sreejesh, underwent some sessions under Dutchman Dennis van de Pol in the lead up to the Asian Games, which has been very helpful according to the veteran custodian. “Dennis van de Pol is a good coach. It has really been beneficial to work with him. His experience and vast knowledge of goalkeeping have been very useful for us.
“He has deep knowledge about his skills and expertise and it has definitely helped us in all aspects of goalkeeping qualities,” he signed off.
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