"If we wanted to win Olympic medals, we need to score more field goals": PR Sreejesh

Out of 15, nine were penalty corners, three were penalty strokes and a mere three were field goals

If there is one thing that goalkeeping stalwart PR Sreejesh would like to see change in Indian hockey, it is the team’s dependence on penalty corners for scoring as he believes that field goals need to go up for the country to win an Olympic medal every four years. India scored 15 goals and conceded 12 en route their second consecutive Olympic bronze medal in the just-concluded Paris Games. Out of 15, nine were penalty corners, three were penalty strokes and a mere three were field goals.

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“Most the times, when the forwards are getting into the circle the first thing that comes into their mind is to go for a penalty corner because that’s what we are good at. I am not saying that our forwards are not trying to score field goals,” Sreejesh, who retired at the end of the Games, said. In comparison, gold winners The Netherlands and silver-medallist Germany scored 14 and 15 field goals respectively, while fourth-place finishers Spain found the net 10 times from field efforts.

Sreejesh, who ended his glorious 18-year career after winning two consecutive Olympic bronze medals, felt the Indians will have to do away with heavy reliance on penalty corners and find a way to score more field goals in future. “...when you have better options to score from penalty corners, why should we waste our opportunities? But if we are thinking about the next level for the Indian hockey team, if we wanted to win Olympic medals, we need to score more field goals as well because defence has got some limitations,” he said.

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