Former India captain and Hockey India president Dilip Tirkey called Indian veteran goalkeeper PR Sreejesh as the god of Indian hockey. Sreejesh delivered an exemplary performance as India defeated Great Britain on penalties in the quarterfinal of the ongoing Paris Olympics 2024 at the Yves du Manoir Stadium on Sunday.
After the first quarter went goalless, there was a lot of action in the second frame. First, Amit Rohidas was sent off by the referee for raising his stick and India was down to 10 men.
However, the red card didn’t bog India down as skipper Harmanpreet Singh found the back of the net through a penalty corner. This was the seventh goal for the Indian captain in the ongoing Games.
But Great Britain bounced back to equalize as Lee Morton scored. Subsequently, Indian players defended with everything they had and Sreejesh was like a wall in front of the goal and Great Britain could not find a way past him despite several penalty corner opportunities.
In the shootout, Sreejesh turned up his game even more as he didn’t give any room. While Conor Williamson lofted the ball above the post, Sreejesh blocked Phillip Roper’s shot before Raj Kumar Pal scored to put India in semis.
“I can understand how difficult it is to play with 10 men. That’s why we didn’t see many attacks. The team planned in the right way with the intention of defending (every attack from the opposition). It kept the defense crowded. If we had attacked again and again, there would have been a lot of gaps in our defense. And they would have taken advantage of that,” said Tirkey on India Today.
“Sreejesh was the God of hockey for us today. He saved well. We were able to play a better match because of his performance.”
In an apparent reference to defender Rohidas’ red card suspension, Tirkey said, “At this level, people want to see a better match and players want to play a better match. The level of umpiring should be balanced. In today’s match something happened that should not have happened because of umpiring. But we won the match and we are celebrating.”
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