After 20 years, novel home-coming for hockey hero Sreejesh

At the ripe age of 35 having earned a whopping 294 caps across a neartwodecadelong international career Indiarsquos veteran goalkeeper PR Sreejesh is all set to make his lsquointernational debut on his home turfrsquo here at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium when the hosts take on China in their opening encounter of the Asian Champions Trophy todayPR Sreejesh hails from Kerala but is a registered player with the Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu HUTN where he previously played a lot of domestic hockey for his erstwhile employers IOB Indian Overseas Bank In fact he got picked for India while he was an IOB playerIndia players warm up prior to their training session at Chennai yesterday PicPTIHowever when India last played an international tournament with multiple teams heremdashthe 2007 Asia CupmdashSreejesh was not in the squad ldquoI was in the national camp then but I did not make it to the team I remember watching the entire Asia Cup sitting in the stands as Adrian DrsquoSouza and Baljit Singh manned the India goalpost So itrsquos an emotional moment for me to be playing my first match in India colours here Itrsquos like my international debut on my home groundrdquo Sreejesh told midday after a Team India practice session on the eve of the tournament in ChennaiWhen Sreejesh was stoppedInterestingly Sreejesh nearly missed out on watching the Asia Cup as he did not have a ticket ldquoBack then I thought itrsquoll be like any other normal game but when I arrived at the gate there was a huge crowd and the policeman stopped me and asked for my pass Being in the India camp I thought I did not need a ticket to watch the matches Somehow I spoke to the cops and some of the officials and they allowed me in after I convinced them that I was a member of the national camp I clearly remember I watched the tournament from a far corner of the stadiumrdquo added Sreejesh wiping the sweat off his brow after the intense training sessionAlso Read India coach Fulton shrugs off negatives ahead of Asian Champions TrophyItrsquos been a long time since that 2007 incident though and Sreejesh is proud to see Chennai host a multiteam international hockey event again ldquoThe crowd here is great Irsquom sure the stands will fill up and the noise will be deafeningrdquo he saidlsquoIndia are favouritesrsquoIndia World No 4 are the highestranked team in this tournament and nothing less than a gold medal will do Sreejesh a threetime Olympian a multiple World Cupper and Asian Games star knows what it takes to deliver on the highest stage ldquoIndia are the favourites here and the team are shaping up well Our aim is the gold medal but we will approach it one match at a timerdquo he saidNerves however are something he cannot control even today particularly since this is an emotional homecoming of sorts for him ldquoThis moment is really exciting because when you play a domestic game heremdashI have played more than two dozen domestic matches heremdashyou donrsquot get that much attention but for an international game it will be special That 2007 experience is a great memory for me and hopefully 2023 will be special toordquo he signed off