Sreejesh, the Padma Bhushan who used cuss words to keep his team on toes

The fact that PR Sreejesh, the rock under the Indian hockey team’s bar, received the Padma Bhushan the same year as the national team captain Harmanpreet Singh getting the Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award underlines it’s the high noon for the sport again. It’s the third highest civilian honour in the country after Bharat Ratna and Padma Bibhushan and the announcement came on the eve of the 76^th Republic Day.  

 ‘’I want to thank my country which has given me back more than what I gave,’’ the self-effacing 36-year-old Malayali said in an interview on Sunday. The career figures, however, is telltale – a career spanning over 18 years, 336 matches under the Indian bar, two back-to-back Olympics bronze medals with the first one coming in Tokyo after a gap of 41 years and two Asian Games gold among other things.

 Those who know Sreejesh well on and off the pitch vouch for the fact that he wears two strikingly different personalities. The one with a mundu and a shy smile in the family album could pass off as a middle class bank official from Kochi, while the other one screaming at his colleagues from the back with the choicest cuss words – not to speak of bringing off those miraculous saves at critical moments – is a completely different avatar altogether.

A goalkeeper, be it in football or hockey, is in the best position to keep an eye on his teammates’ positions and potential danger at hand and this is what Sreejesh wanted to alert his men about. ‘’Those words keep them on their toes. Those gaalis are gaana for them. It’s a motivation,’’ a smiling Sreejesh said after pulling off a Houdini act against Great Britain in the quarter final in Paris Olympics.

 A day after Sreejesh received his biggest honour yet, he did not forget put things in perspective: “This year Harmanpreet Singh got the Khel Ratna and I am getting the Padma award, this is a great honour and recognition for hockey.’’ The other sports personalities to feature in the roll of honour on the eve of 76^th Republic Day were cricketer Ravi Ashwin, footballer IM Vijayan, Harvinder Singh (Para archery) and Satyapal Singh (athletics) as Padma Shris.

 When pointed out that he was only the second hockey player after the legendary Dhyan Chand way back in 1956 to receive the Padma Bhushan, Sreejesh was overwhelmed.  “I did not know that. It feels like a dream. India has such a rich legacy in hockey and we have given so many great players to world hockey. Considering this, it is a big thing for me to get this award after Dhyan Chand ji. I consider myself very lucky,’’ he said.

 “Receiving this award after retiring from the game has made me feel that the country is honouring me for whatever I have done for Indian hockey in the last 20 years. I want to thank my country which has given me back more than what I gave," he said.

 “I made my debut as a junior player in 2004 and played till we won the second bronze in the Paris Olympics in 2024. I won Olympic medals, faced defeat in the Olympics, won medals in Asian Games and Commonwealth Games. I also made a lot of sacrifices for this, like staying away from home and family from at a young age, but now it seems that all those sacrifices did not go in vain,’’ Sreejesh said.

  The rock of Indian hockey showed a fine sense of timing when he announced on the eve of Paris Olympics that it would be last appearance in an Indian shirt. Now the coach of the junior India team, he has already guided them to a Junior Asia Cup title last November but the Indian hockey fans are waiting for something more ambitious - to groom a next Sreejesh under the bar.