‘If we’re talking about 2036 Olympics, now’s the time’: Hockey legend PR Sreejesh identifies hole in expertise identification

NEW DELHI: Double Olympic medallist PR Sreejesh emphasised the importance of grassroots funding and expertise scouting to boost India’s future in sports activities.
Sreejesh, who retired after contributing to India’s consecutive Olympic bronze medal on the Paris Video games, highlighted the significance of publicity and psychological preparation for athletes aiming for achievement on the Olympics.
“Publicity is the important thing. Entering into the world stage and acting from there’s the dream,” Sreejesh stated. “What makes the Olympics distinctive is the psychological stress. Making ready athletes to be geared up to carry out at that stage is most essential.”
He identified the shift in perspective for younger athletes, who now have tangible examples of Indian achievements on the worldwide stage, boosting their confidence of their potential for achievement.
“Once we began taking part in, we all the time heard concerning the historical past of the game. Now, we are able to realistically present younger youngsters that we are able to obtain on the world stage. Once I work with U21 gamers at Hockey India, I need them to consider that they can also obtain success,” he added.
Sreejesh recognized a niche in expertise identification on the grassroots stage, advocating for elevated funding in younger expertise, significantly these between the ages of 12-14, to organize for future Olympic Video games, together with the 2036 Olympics.
“Now we have room to enhance in expertise identification. On the nursery stage, at grassroots, there’s loads to work on. That is the place the funding must go in,” he stated. “If we’re talking concerning the 2036 Olympics, now’s when we have to faucet into the expertise between the age teams of 12-14 years.”
He additionally burdened the necessity for a broader sports activities tradition in India, past simply successful medals, to advertise general well being and well-being.
“We have to introduce sports activities tradition into our system. That is essential, not simply to win medals however for general well being and well-being. The youthful era may be very targeted on medals, which is nice, however we additionally must construct a basis that sustains their journey in sports activities,” he remarked.