Indian hockey goalkeeper PR Sreejesh working on defending penalty corners

India trying to defend a penalty corner against New Zealand

The Indian team shot stopper and vice captain PR Sreejesh is working extra hard to strengthen his skills in the penalty corner situation. He insisted that the increased pace and introduction of the new rules in the game is the profound reason in the penalty corners becoming great goal-scoring opportunities.

He said, “In a fast-paced game and with the new rules, penalty corners have become goal-scoring opportunities.”

The Tamil Nadu-based player also explained the need for goalkeepers to be attentive and have fast reflexes all the time. He also praised chief coach Paul van Ass for coming up with new strategies to stop the opposition team scoring from penalty corners.

“We are improving ourselves in this area and our coaching staff are working extra hours on penalty corners. Chief coach Paul van Ass stresses on the improvement in penalty corners and we are trying out new strategies to restrict goals.”

The No. 25 is very happy with the progress that the team had made over the practice sessions and warm up games and insisted that the team is in a better shape to defend penalty corners successfully.

The 27-year-old keeper is a pivotal part of the team and has stood between the posts for his national team on 130 occasions.

India go into the Hockey World League (HWL) semis in good touch after winning three and losing 1 of their 4 warm-up matches. India plays France in their opening match at HWL semis in Antwerp, Belgium on 20^th June.