'I became a goalkeeper because I didn't like running': PR Sreejesh

The Indian men's hockey team goalkeeper PR Sreejesh said 'goalkeeper has to be a crazy person' to stand before the raging ball.

Sreejesh is India's mainstay under the bar. With the Paris Olympics around the corner, the seasoned Indian custodian will look to improve the colour of the medal he won at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

“The goalkeeper has to be a crazy person. Crazy, because you just need to have that guts to stand in front of that ball. The second thing is aggression, you need to be an aggressive person, and those reflexes have to be there. You don't get much time to just think, ‘Save.’ No, you just need to save it. Then you realize, ‘Okay, I made that save'," Sreejesh told cricketer Dinesh Karthik on JioCinema’s ‘Get Set Gold’.

Sreejesh, meanwhile, revealed that he played various sports, including shot-put, before choosing hockey as his staple.

“I was a shot-put athlete in my school days because I was overweight with a less height. So, my team was better than me. Then I went for football, but there were a lot of football players already packed in that ground. I tried volleyball, but I was not good enough. Then I saw hockey," remarked Sreejesh.

Even though he started playing hockey to try and get grace marks on his Kerala State board exam, he made a careful attempt to become a goalkeeper.

“Hockey was not easy because you need to bend, you need to play. That was really tough for me. And over that, you need to run. I was an overweight guy. I didn't like running at all. So, I have seen these goalkeepers in full kit, standing in a corner and kicking the ball," said Sreejesh.

"I thought that was pretty funny because they're not doing anything. They are not running. They're just wearing the pad and kicking the ball. So, I thought this is the right position for me because you don't need to run. You're a part of the hockey team and you'll get grace marks. That's how I became a goalkeeper," he added.

Sreejesh has an illustrious career, winning Olympic bronze, two Asian Games Gold medals as many Commonwealth Games silver medals, and four Asian Champions Trophy gold medals.

Sreejesh will look for his second Olympic medal in the Paris Olympics. India have been slotted in Group B along with Belgium, Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, and Ireland.