How Will Indian Hockey Get To Next Level? PR Sreejesh Opens Up About Change He Wants To See

If there is one thing that goalkeeping stalwart P R Sreejesh would like to see change in Indian hockey, it is the team's dependence on penalty corners for scoring as he believes that field goals need to go up for the country to win an Olympic medal every four years. (More Hockey News)

India scored 15 goals and conceded 12 en route their second consecutive Olympic bronze medal in the just-concluded Paris Games. Out of 15, nine were penalty corners, three were penalty strokes and a mere three were field goals.

"Most the times, when the forwards are getting into the circle the first thing that comes into their mind is to go for a penalty corner because that's what we are good at. I am not saying that our forwards are not trying to score field goals," Sreejesh, who retired at the end of the Games, told PTI editors at its headquarters in an interaction.

In comparison, gold winners Netherlands and silver-medallist Germany scored 14 and 15 field goals respectively, while fourth-place finishers Spain found the net 10 times from field efforts.

In all, the men's competition in Paris witnessed 78 field goals and 62 from short corners in total.

A penalty corner is awarded when a player commits a foul within the striking circle even if it is not necessarily to stop a possible goal-scoring move. The most common cause for a penalty corner is the ball touching a player's feet in the circle.

Sreejesh, who ended his glorious 18-year career after winning two consecutive Olympic bronze medals, felt the Indians will have to do away with heavy reliance on penalty corners and find a way to score more field goals in future.

"...when you have better options to score from penalty corners, why should we waste our opportunities? But if we are thinking about the next level for the Indian hockey team, if we wanted to win Olympic medals, we need to score more field goals as well because defence has got some limitations," he said.

"I shouldn't say this but we are not Germany who can defend one goal for 60 minutes because they are disciplined, they are cultured. The style and strategy is different than us.

"I strongly believe that we made some mistakes and conceded a few goals but we need to sharpen our forwards to score more goals so that the defence gets more comfort," the 36-year-old added.

Not easy to be in league of greats

With two Olympic bronze, two Asian Games gold and a bronze, two Champions Trophy titles and as many Commonwealth Games silver medals in his kitty, Sreejesh has become a legend of Indian hockey, joining the likes of Major Dhyan Chand, Balbir Singh Sr, and Dhanraj Pillay among others.

Sreejesh said it is not easy for any player to be in that elite league.

"It is not easy to be in that league. When you are getting into that senior role, when you are getting into limelight, it gets higher because your responsibility then is not only to perform for your country," he said.

He said the elevation to that elite status is a huge responsibility.

"Your responsibility is also towards the juniors, to develop them, to support the coaching," he said.

"You are going to be a mediator between the players and the coaching staff. You are getting into the shoes of a spokesperson for the team, you are becoming an ambassador for your country. So what all things you do should be an example."