New Delhi: The Indian Football community wished all the best to the Indian Olympic contingent ahead of the Tokyo Games, as athletes from around the country get ready for the Global extravaganza that is about to begin on July 23.
In an AIFF TV show hosted by Indian Women’s Football Team goalkeeper Aditi Chauhan, the Indian Football community got a deeper insight into how the Indian Men’s Hockey Team’s preparations for the Olympics are going on, from none other than ‘world’s best’ goalkeeper PR Sreejesh.
“It (the preparation) started almost last 2 years back, after the World Cup in Odisha was over. We started our campaign for the Olympics. Fortunately, or unfortunately, we got an extra year, so the preparation is a bit different this time,” Sreejesh said on AIFF TV.
“Generally we travel a lot, and play a lot of practice matches. We do a lot of acclimatisation to the climate. But this time we have been camping in Bengaluru for past one and a half years. We have had hardly any time to meet our families,” explained Sreejesh. “We have been training hard, and we’ve been working on different strategies, analysing our opponents as well.”
The Indian Men’s Hockey team, currently ranked 4th on the FIH World Rankings, have been drawn in Pool A in the Olympics, alongside the likes of hosts Japan, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and Spain. The India keeper went on to state, however, that the preparations for the Olympics this time, has been more of a journey of “self-realisation” for the boys.
“Whenever any of the teams have played any match, we have been watching. We’ve also watched our own videos and tried to figure out our strengths and weaknesses. These one and a half years have been a lot about self-realisation, rather than worrying about others,” he informed.
