“We need to score more field goals as well” - PR Sreejesh’s message for the Indian hockey team to win Olympic medals

Legendary goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, who bid adieu to the game of hockey, stated that the Indian men’s hockey team shouldn’t be reliant on penalty corners and find a way to score more field goals in the future to win more Olympic medals.

The Netherlands, the gold medalists at the Paris Olympics 2024, notably scored 14 field goals while silver medalists Germany netted 15 compared to fourth-placed Spain’s 10.

The Indian hockey team scored 15 goals and conceded 12 at the Paris Olympics in 2024. Interestingly, out of 15 goals, nine were penalty corners, three were penalty strokes and the other three were field goals.

"When you have better options to score from penalty corners, why should we waste our opportunities? But if we are thinking about the next level for the Indian hockey team, if we wanted to win Olympic medals, we need to score more field goals as well because defense has got some limitations," PR Sreejesh told PTI.

“We need to sharpen our forwards to score more goals” - PR Sreejesh

A penalty corner is awarded when a player commits a foul within the striking circle, even if it is not directly to prevent a potential goal. This often occurs when the ball unintentionally touches a player’s feet inside the circle

Sreejesh further stated that the Indian hockey team needs to sharpen its forwards to score more goals so that the defenders get good enough comfort.

"I shouldn't say this but we are not Germany who can defend one goal for 60 minutes because they are disciplined, they are cultured. The style and strategy is different than us,” he said.

"I strongly believe that we made some mistakes and conceded a few goals but we need to sharpen our forwards to score more goals so that the defense gets more comfort," he added.

Sreejesh concluded his close to two-decade-long playing career after winning two Olympic bronze medals.

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