Hockey India Retires PR Sreejesh’s No. 16 Jersey (image-instagram/sreejesh88)
Hockey Indian on Wednesday decided to retire the jersey number of goalkeeper stalwart PR Sreejesh after he bid adieu to the sport after India’s Paris Olympics campaign.
PR Sreejesh had played a pivotal role in helping India’s hockey team clinch a bronze medal in Paris. Hockey India general secretary Bhola Nath Singh during the felicitation function of the team announced that PR Sreejesh will now be the junior team coach and has decided to retire the no. 16 jersey for the senior team.
Read also: “Lost Many Medals”: WFI Chief Sanjay Singh Blames Wrestlers’ Protest
“Sreejesh will groom someone like him in the junior team who will wear the no. 16 jersey,” he said.
Honoured 🙏 https://t.co/smuUz6U9Hx
— sreejesh p r (@16Sreejesh) August 14, 2024
Sreejesh had brought the curtain down on a storied 18-year international career and capped it with a stellar performance in India’s bronze medal-winning Paris Olympics campaign.
This has been his second consecutive bronze medal at the Olympics, after winning in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The players, who were present at the ceremony, wore identical red jerseys with Sreejesh ‘s name on the back as a mark of respect for the veteran from Kerala.
View this post on Instagram
The keeper had also won gold in the 2022 Asian Games in China, a silver medal in the 2022 Commonwealth Games in England, and a gold medal in the 2023 Asian Champions Trophy.
Read also: Imane Khelif: Cyberbullying Criminal Lawsuit Against JK Rowling, Elon Musk
Ahead of the semi-final match against Spain in the Paris Olympics, PR Sreejesh penned an emotional note on X announcing his retirement.
Hours before heading to the field, the 36-year-old from Kerala penned an emotional note stating that his international career was “nothing short of extraordinary” and expressed his gratitude to the countrymen for believing in him.
His post concluded by promising to be a “forever custodian of dreams”.
