Veteran Indian men’s hockey team goalkeeper PR Sreejesh announced his retirement on Monday. He said the Paris Olympics would be his last international tour.
This is the 36-year-old Sreejesh’s fourth Olympics. Under his leadership, India participated in the 2016 Rio Olympics and the team finished eighth. However, he won a historic bronze medal with the Indian team in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Sreejesh has played 328 international matches for India. Apart from this, he has participated in many Commonwealth Games and World Cups. The Paris Olympics will start on July 26. “As I prepare for my last tournament in Paris, I look back on my career with great pride and a ray of hope ahead,” Sreejesh said in a Hockey India press release.
Sreejesh said, “The journey has been nothing short of extraordinary and I will forever be grateful for the love and support of my family, teammates, coaches, fans and Hockey India. Thank you for believing in me. My colleagues have stood by me through difficult times. We all want to do our best in Paris and of course, we want to change the colour of our medals.”
Since his debut at the 2010 World Cup, Sreejesh has been a part of many memorable victories for India, including gold at the 2014 Asian Games and bronze at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta-Palembang. Apart from being the joint-winning team of the Asian Champions Trophy in 2018, he was also part of the 2019 FIH Men’s Series final winning team in Bhubaneswar. In addition, he was a part of the silver medal-winning team at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and the 2023 Asian Champions Trophy. He led India to a gold medal in the 2022 Asian Games.
Sreejesh was awarded the Khel Ratna Award in 2021. At the same time, in 2022, he was selected as the best athlete for the year 2021. Sreejesh married his girlfriend Anisha. His wife is a long jumper and also an Ayurveda doctor. The couple also has a daughter (Anushree) and a son.
In 2016, Sreejesh replaced Sardar Singh as the captain of the Indian men’s hockey team. His goalkeeping at the Tokyo Olympics helped India win an Olympic medal in men’s hockey after 41 years.
