New Delhi, Aug 8 (PTI) With a smile adorning an exhausted face and a second successive Olympic bronze medal set to enrich his bulging trophy cabinet, PR Sreejesh on Thursday entered the very upper echelons of any list of Indian sporting greats in faraway Paris.

His teammates crowding around the talisman as he lay on the ground with his face down, was appropriate. And so was him being lifted on the shoulders of men who were desperate and determined to give their mentor-cum-player a fitting send-off for his yeoman service to the game for nearly two decades.

But then, his colleagues agreed in unison that those gestures were not enough for a great appearing in his fourth Olympics (the first Indian goalkeeper to do so), and decided to pay another emotional tribute to the celebrated player by bowing down in front of him as a mark of respect, after the bronze was won with a 2-1 victory over Spain in the playoff match.

As the country continued to mourn the disqualification of ace wrestler Vinesh Phogat from her gold medal bout owing to her being overweight by 100 grams in the customary pre-match weigh-in, the hockey team’s victory brought back plenty of cheers to the faces of Indian fans, and creating a flutter on the social media was who else but Sreejesh.

That was because he had just pulled the curtains down on an illustrious 18-year career punctuated by many highs and few lows.

Without an iota of doubt, he bows out of the game as the best ever goalkeeper India has produced.

During his glorious run, he played multiple roles since starting out as an 18-year-old teenager way back in 2006.

In recent years, the unassuming man from Kerala turned to mentoring the juniors in the squad and the spirit of camaraderie was always there as he mingled with the team’s other seniors such as inspirational skipper Harmanpreet Singh and ace forward Manpreet Singh, who has been a very close friend to the goalkeeper for many years.

While Sreejesh walks into international sunset, Manpreet will play on for a bit longer.

It was not surprising to see Manpreet dedicating the win to Sreejesh.

“I would like to dedicate this medal to Sreejesh I have spent so much time with him,” Manpreet wrote on X moments after the win.

His beautiful equation with the other team’s other influential players benefited the team immensely as someone like Harmanpreet has grown into one of the world’s best drag flickers, scoring as many as 10 goals in this edition of the sporting spectacle and powering the team ahead as Sreejesh manned the Indian citadel with aplomb.

While Sreejesh pulled of his customary brilliant saves at crucial junctures including in the nervy last few minutes before the final hooter, Harmanpreet was the game changer on the day with his two lovely strikes after Spain had taken the lead through Marc Miralles.

As he is wont to, the 36-year-old was at his best at the post through the match and was involved in the thick of things until the very last moments of the bronze medal playoff game.

With just over a minute to go, the ‘Wall of India’, as he is referred to in the hockey circles and beyond, came up with a tremendous save to deny an equally determined Spanish side that took the lead in the second quarter.

Spain opted for a review, but the decision did not go in their favour much to the relief of the passionate Indian fans who were rooting for and chanting the name of one of their favourite players.

The desire to win a gold at the Games remained unfulfilled but that will in no way come in the way of his name getting etched in the glorious history of Indian hockey, a country that has won the top prize at the Olympics an unprecedented eight times in its heyday.

His skills were again on full display as he denied the Spanish attacks in the match whose result was significant in the sense that it told the world that the country, once the sport’s undisputed superpower, continues to regain its past glory.

No easy beginning ============ While he ended his long stint on a blaze of glory, the start of the journey from Kochi was not easy for Sreejesh, who made his senior debut at the South Asian Games in Colombo nearly two decades ago, as he often lost his place to seniors like Baljit Singh, Adrian D’Souza and Bharat Chettri.

But luck finally smiled on him in 2009, albeit in a strange way. Baljit suffered a career-ending, freak eye injury and the lanky goalkeeper grabbed the opportunity with both hands. The rest, as they say, is history.

Baljit’s injury gave Sreejesh’s career a fresh lease of life, and then, his mind-reading abilities and understanding of the game helped him attain great heights.

Sreejesh was part of the team that won two Asian Games gold, two Commonwealth Games silver and four Asian Champions Trophy gold medals. He has about 100-odd medals and awards adorning his trophy cabinet.

Sreejesh, who was honoured with the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award in 2021, is only the second sportsperson from India to win the prestigious World Games Athlete of the Year Award, in 2021.

Besides, he has won consecutive FIH Goalkeeper of the Year Awards in 2021 and 2022.

In Paris, his most notable performance came against Great Britain in the quarterfinals.

Down to 10 men and with more than 40 minutes remaining in the game, Sreejesh stook like rock in front of the goal, making save after save, including two incredible efforts in the shoot-out to seal a second consecutive semifinal berth for India at the Olympics.

In Tokyo too, Sreejesh was key to India winning the medal after 41 years, making crucial saves in the bronze playoff against Germany, which they won 5-4.

An ever-smiling character on the turf and always eager to guide guide his team members from the back, Sreejesh celebrated the bronze at Tokyo by sitting at the top of the goalpost for quite some. And he did the same on Thursday afternoon in the French capital, in his 356th 356th match.

For a player who leaves the scene with a rich legacy, Sreejesh’s reflex and positioning in front of the goal are lessons for upcoming goalkeepers.

The fine reader of the game matured with every tournament since making his senior debut.

Former India and 1975 Cup-winning skipper Ajit Pal Singh summed up Sreejesh’s contributions aptly.

“Sreejesh and Harmanpreet (Singh) are the heart and soul of the team. Sreejesh is the best goalkeeper India has ever produced. Whenever he is in front of the goal and everybody is beaten, still there is a hope and he has showed that in his last Olympics,” he told PTI.

Source: PTI News