India vs Great Britain quarterfinal: Sreejesh was God of hockey today, says Dilip Tirkey

Former India captain Dilip Tirkey praises goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh as the 'God of hockey' in India's Olympic win.

Former India captain and Hockey India president Dilip Tirkey said goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh, who made several saves including in the penalty shootout, was the ‘God of hockey’ for the national team which recorded a magnificent win over Great Britain in the quarterfinals of the Paris Olympics at the Yves du Manoir Stadium in Paris on August 4.

A respected defender of his times, Tirkey, who was present at the stadium to witness the match, praised the Indian team for defending well after Amit Rohidas’ expulsion owing to a foul early in the second quarter.

“I can understand how difficult it is to play with 10 men. That’s why we didn’t see many attacks. The team planned in the right way with the intention to defend (every attack from the opposition). It kept the defence crowded. If we had attacked again and again, there would have been a lot of gaps in our defence. And they would have taken advantage of that,” said Tirkey.

“Sreejesh was the God of hockey for us today. He saved well. We were able to play a better match because of his performance.”

In an apparent reference to defender Rohidas’ red card suspension, Tirkey said, “At this level people want to see a better match and players want to play a better match. The level of umpiring should be balanced. In today’s match something happened that should not have happened because of umpiring. But we won the match and we are celebrating.”