Indian international PR Sreejesh is honoured to be conferred as the Dhruv Batra Player of the Year 2015 at the recently concluded Hockey India 2nd Annual Awards held in Bangalore. The 27-year old custodian has been the prime reason for the rise of Indian hockey in the last couple of years or so, he has impressed everyone by his amazing reactions and agility at the goal line to deny the opposition teams the pleasure of scoring a goal against a very compact Indian hockey side.
“I hope this award will encourage youngsters to play the national game in right earnest”
On winning the award, Sreejesh said, “It’s a great honour for me to be chosen as the Hockey India Dhruv Batra Player of the Year award. I dedicate this award to all my coaches, family members and friends who have encouraged me and pushed me to give my best to hockey. I hope this award will encourage youngsters to play the national game in right earnest,” as Hockey India reports.
At the 2015 Hockey World League semis in Raipur, he produced his finest performance to date against the Dutch national side in an important Bronze medal clash, where the Indian side emerged victorious following a penalty shoot-out win and thus ended India’s 33-year medal drought at the FIH Tournaments.
“Hockey is a sport in which all the 11 players play a significant role”
Speaking exclusively to Sportskeeda, Sreejesh described the importance of individual awards and said, “Hockey is a sport in which all the 11 players play a significant role, they all have their own responsibilities and targets on the field, if they are able to achieve their combined target then only a team can carve out results on a given day. There are some certain areas where I can contribute more from my own side, such as the penalty shoot-outs, the areas where I am directly involved.”
“These kinds of individual awards do play an important role in a youngsters’ life as it would motivate them to take up goalkeeping, and all these small-small things help in the development of our game in the country. In that point of view, I really appreciate it ”
After nearly three years of major competitions, Indian hockey team’s first-choice goalkeeper PR Sreejesh has been rested, with chief coach Roelant Oltmans deciding to give second-choice Harjot Singh and youngster Akash Chikte a try-out instead during the Azlan Shah Cup next month in Malaysia.
