Champions trophy medal is huge confidence-booster ahead of Olympics : PR Sreejesh
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They did lose the final in a controversial shootout to World champions Australia, but PR Sreejesh said the silver medal was huge in the Indian team's road to Rio. Nothing much separated the two teams on the night even as India made history by reaching the final of the trophy–a first in 38 years.
India went into the tournament as the seventh-ranked team but defeated Great Britain and South Korea to reach the final. A loss to Australia in the final league game suggested a huge gap between the two, but when it mattered the Men in Blue stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the World Champions, and were in fact, the better team on the night. However, the shootout gamble went against the Indians with an additional controversial shootout attempt awarded to the Aussies tilting the scales.
Highlighting the importance of the medal, Sreejesh said, “This silver medal was important for this young team. It is a huge confidence-booster as we head to the Olympics,” in an exclusive to ToI.
The loss still rankled as the custodian said, “We played brilliantly in the final, got under the skin of Aussies. But a goal eluded us in normal time and in the shootout things didn't go our way. But I am very happy at what we have accomplished”.
Sreejesh has been brilliant for India in the shoot-outs in the past, but after a brilliant performance in regular time, he was off just a bit on that day. “I was confident going into the penalty shootout and was hoping to pull off at least two saves. But the shootout is not just about goalkeepers. Your fellow players have to score too. Our players did exceedingly well in regulation time. But couldn't deliver in the shootout and I felt that extra bit of pressure in goal. In shootouts, luck plays an important factor. On Friday, the rub of the green didn't go our way,” Sreejesh said.
The second shootout attempt by Daniel Beale was controversial–Sreejesh was called for blocking in the first attempt, and Beale converted only in the second. India appealed at the end of the game, and the call was so controversial that the officials did not release the final verdict until a few hours after the game was over. Consequently, Sreejesh, captaining in his first tournament, received the silverware sometime later indoors away from the limelight.
“Yeah, it was a bit disappointing. But then, history won't show whether you were presented the silver medal on the field or off it. History will always reflect India as silver medal winners in Champions Trophy in 2016,” Sreejesh said, reported ToI.
However, Sreejesh also talked about the positives from the tournament saying, “There was a general feeling that India can give more fancied opponents a tough fight only at full strength. In this tournament, we had rested quite a few senior players including our captain Sardar Singh. The youngsters who came in played remarkably well. Though I was named captain, on the field the captain's armband was worn by a field player. We rotated the on-field captain in the tourney and whoever wore the armband took the responsibility and marshalled the troops admirably. This tournament has given tremendous exposure and self-belief to the players, especially the younger ones and I think we are moving in the right direction”.
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