Cautious approach doesn’t stop India from giving PR Sreejesh a bronze medal farewell from Paris 2024

The Indian hockey team gave its senior citizen and custodian PR Sreejesh a wonderful parting gift in the form of a second successive Olympic bronze medal, managing to carve a 2-1 win in the playoff between the losing semi-finalists, but they betrayed plenty of nerves that allowed Spain to make a contest out of it.

With India deciding to play half-press, falling back in the last quarter and mainly focusing on defending the one-lead — in a manner that caused some surprise to observers — Sreejesh was under constant action, repeatedly coming under fire from the Spanish strikers. He had to pad away numerous penalty corner drag-flicks, several more open-play pay shots at the citadel, goalmouth tries from hand-shaking distance. Yet, he played on gamely.

This match seemed like Sreejesh’s private celebration, where he was even having a dreamy chat with the goalpost and beaming throughout this 60-minute duel, not allowing the action in the middle to un-nerve him. Spain’s strikers, who threw everything into the attack, not only found him a tough nut to crack, but also a unique character who gave a smiling welcome as forwards advanced to the top of the circle.

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When in the dying seconds the ball was in India’s possession in the rival circle — near the right flag-post — Spain managed to snatch it and mount a last-gasp attack. There were 12 seconds remaining on the clock. Sreejesh, as this very moment, was busy taking off his gloves and stepping forward. Seeing India dispossessed of the ball and Spanish strikers moving forward, Sreejesh had to hastily slip his hands back into the gloves. This moment was akin to a birthday boy dropping his crystal present on the floor. On the hockey turf, however, this situation was salvaged quickly.

Read | India's Olympic bronze medal win in hockey leads to outpouring of emotions

As India’s 2-1 victory and the bronze medal was assured with the final hooter, Sreejesh went back into the goal, seemed to have a private conversation and then came out to celebrate India’s second successive Olympic bronze medal.

“The goal was my home for the last 25 years,” said Sreejesh, asserting that he did not know much about the world away from the hockey turf. “I had my own feelings, was trying to recollect the memories of when I first played a hockey match; when I put on the goalkeeping pads for the first time; when I first attended the national camp; when , the day I made my international debut …” said Sreejesh.

Back-to-back medal victories secured by the Indian Hockey team in the Olympics! 🥉😍

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Sreejesh said he was a very aggressive goalkeeper at start with. “When I began, I used to hurl a lot of abuses,” he said, reciting some of them — to an erupted laughter in the post-victory media conference. “But then I began talking to the goalpost.”

“The goalpost became my emotional partner, now it is my girlfriend,” he said.

Watch | Sreejesh signs off with iconic goalpost celebration; Harmanpreet lifts goalkeeper on his shoulders

Before the bronze gift for Sreejesh arrived, India played in quite a surprising manner in the closing stages. India were desperately defending, even when they got possession of the ball. They just kept pushing the ball back to the Spanish players, who tried to grab the opportunity to launch relentless attack. This strategy has its serious flaws, yet India had adopted it frequently in the Paris Olympics.

India are a far superior team at this moment compared to Spain, who are rebuilding their squad after the retirement of most seniors. From the manger of India’s performance in the past few games, India ought to have hammered this rival into submission. Yet, the Indian defenders started seeing red whenever they saw a Spanish raid. This had nothing to do with the red uniform of the Spaniards, but India’s own new-look defensive strategy.

India presented a strange view in defending most of the fourth quarter with just a one-goal lead. It is another thing to fall back and defend in large numbers, but when you get possession of the ball, it is the rivals who should feel threatened. In this bronze-medal encounter, India were needlessly pushing the ball back to the rivals at one stage. This can never be the way to hold on for long periods. It would have been better for India to keep possession of the ball and keep switching this around, but this basis theory of sport seemed to have deserted India.

Captain Harmanpreet Singh twice managed to score from India’s six penalty corners, but they did not give the impression of a confident side conceding nine penalty corners. Nobody in the Indian camp seemed to have remember that attack is best form of defence.

Spain were more offensive and were rewarded with an early lead when a penalty stroke as converted by skipper Marc Miralles.

The way India played, they almost made heavy weather of winning this encounter. For a moment it seemed to be a replay of the Moscow 1980 clash between these two countries, which was the last league match but determined the gold and silver medals. India were leading by three goals in Moscow when Spain pulled two back quickly through penalty corner conversions. The rally, however, ended there.

India’s extra-cautious defence was forgotten as celebrations sparked around the Yves-du-Manoir Stadium. As Sreejesh says, ”India as a country is emotionally attached to hockey. When the Indian hockey team wins a medal, it is very special.”