India advanced to the Paris semifinals thanks to the heroics of goalkeeper PR Sreejesh.
Experienced Indian goalie PR Sreejesh pondered whether this would be his final game or if he would have two more chances to play before calling it a day on his remarkable career prior to Sunday’s men’s hockey quarterfinal matchup against Great Britain at the Olympics in Paris. The game was deadlocked 1-1 at the end of regulation time, but Sreejesh made some outstanding saves to keep Great Britain from scoring and helped his team win 4-2 in a penalty shootout.
Sreejesh, in his last international event, was the talk of the town as he kept denying Great Britain opportunities to score and his teammates supported him. He stopped the third and fourth penalty shootout attempts to give India the victory. He said to the broadcaster, “It’s a goalkeeper’s everyday job,” following India’s incredible triumph. While there are days when a different kind of effort is required, today was our day. The players who were in the shootout did not let us down. The Indian goalkeeper remarked, “They scored, and it gave me a lot of confidence.”
India united on the pitch to stave off Great Britain, the second-ranked team in the world, and forced the match into a penalty shootout, which they won at the Yves-du-Manoir Stadium. According to Sreejesh, he was in a “do or die” situation and was ready to advance the game. There were two possibilities available to me when I took the field today. I suppose I have two more matches currently, but this may be my last match. I could also get to play two more matches after this one,” he remarked.
With more than 40 minutes remaining in the match, Amit Rohidas was given a red card.Sreejesh continued, saying that India would wait for the International Hockey Federation (FIH) to make a judgment. “I’m not sure how it will turn out. They must decide what to do about it. We just need to wait for it, but in the interim, we must perform at our highest level.
