India's men's hockey team's goalkeeper PR Sreejesh defines his experience to work with coach Dennis
Ahead of the golden jubilee of the Spanish Hockey Federation, the International Tournament and Hero Asian Champions Trophy Chennai 2023 are the crucial tournaments ahead of the much-awaited Hangzhou Asian Games.
These games are scheduled for September 2023, and the preliminary tournaments will help shape up the talent.
During Asian Games, the qualification of the athletes for the Olympics will be at stake, and the sportsmen will commit their one hundred per cent to dominate. Among the various participants, the Indian contingent is also striving to picture its steadfast performances ahead of the 100th Anniversary Spanish Hockey Federation.
For this, they will face off against England, Netherlands, and Spain while competing in the International Tournament. Whereas, as far as Hero Asian Champions Trophy Chennai 2023 is concerned, the sports-loving nation will compete with five nations. These countries also include India's most prominent rival Pakistan alongside China, Korea, Japan, and Malaysia.
Ahead of these events, the goalkeeper of India's men's hockey team, PR Sreejesh voiced, talking about the team's preparations and relevant buzzes. According to him, continuous goalkeeping camps with Netherland's Dennis van de Pol have contributed positively to nurturing this circuit.
Dennis, the goalkeeping coach, is playing his role by conducting camps from July 13th to 19th for India's men's hockey team. To further boost the skill, he will again host a training session, which is scheduled to take place from September 7th to 14th just before Hangzhou Asian Games.
How does PR Sreejesh feel while working with Dennis?
Talking about getting to work closely with Dennis, the goalkeeper said:
“Dennis van de Pol is a superb coach. Working closely with someone of his experience and calibre has certainly been useful. We have important tournaments going ahead and I believe that we have utilised his time well here, particularly for the young goalies too."
He added:
"His valuable insights and coaching skills have definitely helped. We have worked on various drills including PC defence, penalty shootouts and most importantly our footwork.”
While defining his core focus, he further added that the team will be examining where they momentarily stand to find out areas they need to work on.
“For now, personally for me, my immediate focus is on the 100th Anniversary Spanish Hockey Federation- International Tournament, where we will be looking to execute whatever, we have practiced in the camp and the Hero Asian Champions Trophy Chennai 2023 will be a platform to see where we stand ahead of the all-important Asian Games in September,”
The Indian hockey fans are also up for this sporty delight as the game is getting back to Chennai after a hiatus of 16 years. It last took place back in 2007 when India defeated Korea by a scoreline of 7-2.