Champions trophy medal is huge confidence-booster ahead of Olympics : PR Sreejesh

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.

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.

“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”.