PR Sreejesh No. 16 jersey retired: The Indian hockey team performed brilliantly in the Paris Olympics 2024 and won the bronze medal. India defeated Spain 2-1 in the bronze medal match. The Indian hockey team has won bronze for the second consecutive Olympic Games. Earlier, it also achieved this feat in the Tokyo Olympics (2020).
Goalkeeper PR Sreejesh played an important role in the historic performance of the Indian team. As a goalkeeper, PR Sreejesh kept protecting the Indian goal like a rock throughout the tournament. With the Paris Olympics, Sreejesh said goodbye to international hockey. Sreejesh had already announced that the Paris Olympics was going to be his last tournament.
Our boys are here!
Sreejesh’s felicitation ceremony is about to begin!#HockeyIndia #indiakagame
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,@CMO_Odisha @indiasports @media_sai @sports_odisha @limca_official @cocacola_ind pic.twitter.com/73Dp5LfSDfRelated news
— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) August 14, 2024
The stage is set to celebrate Sreejesh’s incredible achievements in hockey#indiakagame #HockeyIndia
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,@CMO_Odisha @indiasports @media_sai @sports_odisha @limca_official @cocacola_ind pic.twitter.com/bAEG8IiupW— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) August 14, 2024
Now Hockey India has honoured PR Sreejesh. Hockey India has given Sreejesh a cheque of Rs 25 lakh. Not only this, it was also decided to retire Sreejesh’s jersey number 16. Sreejesh’s iconic number 16 jersey will no longer be available to any other Indian hockey player at the international level. This means that no Indian player will be able to wear jersey number 16 in international hockey. However, jersey number 16 will be available at the junior level, so that new stars like Sreejesh can be discovered.
Hockey India secretary general Bhola Nath Singh also announced that 36-year-old Sreejesh, who wore jersey number 16 for nearly two decades, will take on the role of junior national coach. Bhola Nath said at a ceremony organized in Sreejesh’s honor, “Sreejesh is now going to become the coach of the junior team and we are retiring jersey number 16 for the senior team. We are not retiring jersey number 16 for the junior team. Sreejesh will prepare another Sreejesh in the junior team (Sreejesh will prepare a player like himself in the junior team who will wear jersey number 16.’
Retiring the jerseys of legendary players is not a new thing in the sports world. In 2017, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decided to retire the number 10 jersey of legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar. Then in 2023, the BCCI retired the number 7 jersey of former Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Source (PTI) (NDTV) (HINDUSTANTIMES)