EXCLUSIVE: Tokyo is past, we have to focus on tournament in hand - veteran goalkeeper PR Sreejesh

As India gear up for the 2023 Hockey World Cup at home, scheduled to begin on Friday, January 13th in Odisha, veteran India goalkeeper PR Sreejesh alongside team India head coach Graham Reid spoke at length in an exclusive chatWION's Sports Editor Digvijay Singh Deo on the country's chances of doing well in this edition after Tokyo heroics last year. While Sreejesh stressed on the fact that the bronze medal win in Summer Olympics is part of history now, Reid feels the team has gone better since then and have the home advantage going forward.

It was in 1975 when team India last won theHockey World Cup, and this time in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela, Harmanpreet Singh-led side will aim to end the 48 year wait. India, who will be hosting the Hockey World Cup for the fourth time, will see the veteran PR Sreejesh appearing in it for the record third time, having played in Delhi in 2010 and in Bhubaneswar in 2018.

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Speaking on what it feels to be playing at home for the third time, the former captain said it's nothing less than a blessing for him. With India slated to face Spain in their opener at the Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium, Rourkela, on Friday,Sreejesh talked about the newly-built stadium as well.

"I am very fortunate to play my third World Cup on my home soil, its a great blessing for me. Odisha is hosting back-to-back World Cups which is huge, the team, the coach, everyone's excited to play in this new ground in Rourkela in front of 25000 people," PR Sreejesh said.

The head coach, Graham Reid also commented on the prospect of this sport growing in the country given the World Cup is happening across two cities this time. He said,

"As expectations grow, the infrastructure required to host these larger events also grow. Some times it needs more than one city, some times more than one country to provide that infrastructure. The stadium here in Rourkela is world class."

Meanwhile, on being asked is there a pressure on him and the team to deliver and go two steps ahead of what they achieved in Tokyo, Sreejesh looked optimistic and said,

"It's important for players to look behind for history, but for me it is important to focus now. When you enter a tournament with lots of expectations it puts added pressure on you and that will distract you from what you focusing on. Our main target will be to not allow any outside pressure to come in and drive us, we want to focus on each match," he said. Sreejeshadded, "You take the experience from your Tokyo Games or any event, grow with that and prepare for the tournament in hand."

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As this tournament could likely be PR Sreejesh's last World Cup, he surely wants to finish it on a high.

"This is this team's last opportunity to win the World Cup. This is my last chance, so if we win here, infront of our people this is going to be best."

Here's India's squad for the World Cup -

PR Sreejesh, Krishna Pathak, Armanpreet Singh, Surender Kumar, Harmanpreet Singh (Captain), Varun Kumar, Amit Rohidas (Vice Captain), Nilam Sanjeep Xess, Manpreet Singh, Hardik Singh, Nilakanta Shar, Shamsher Singh, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Akashdeep Singh, Mandeep Singh, Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Abhishek, Sukhjeet Singh, Rajkumar Pal, Jugraj Singh