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PR Sreejesh plots India’s Junior World Cup high as coach
The double Olympic medallist wants to guide the team to glory at the Nov 28-Dec 10 event in Tamil Nadu
With an Olympic bronze medal hanging from his neck, PR Sreejesh retired on a high as a player after the 2024 Paris Games. Now in his second innings as head coach of the India U-21 team, the former goalkeeper wants to touch fresh heights, this time at the Junior World Cup.
It’s been more than a year since the 37-year-old took charge of India colts, guiding them to the 2024 Junior Asia Cup gold and 2025 Sultan of Johor Cup silver, but the Junior World Cup in Tamil Nadu from November 28 to December 10 will be Sreejesh’s true test as a tactician.
It won’t be an easy outing despite playing at home. For starters, the field has been expanded from 16 to 24 teams, meaning there will be many unknown entities lurking with potential to cause an upset.
“The matches in the initial stages are going to be tricky because some teams are really low ranked. You can expect a huge number of goals in the league round. But with European teams and Australia, we can always predict (that matches will be of high level) because their club matches are really intense,” said Sreejesh, who was awarded the Padma Bhushan — India’s third highest civilian honour — in April.
“They play quality matches at the club level every weekend. So, the maturity level of their U-21 team is really high. I tell my players that we can’t take them lightly. We need to match their intensity, using our advantage which is skill, speed, our way of playing hockey, mixing all the flavours, be more disciplined and execute our plans.”
The team topping each of the six groups will qualify for the quarter-finals along with two best second ranked teams. The Rohit-led India are in an easy Pool B, grouped with Chile (Nov 28), Oman (Nov 29) and Switzerland (Dec 2) and are expected to make the last eight easily when the “real tournament starts”.
“It’s really important that we use these three matches to prepare for the quarters. They have to be on their toes. We have to play according to our opposition. Maybe the lower-ranked teams may not come and attack, they may stay back and defend. That’s where you allow your players to just go and play their game, use their skill, penetrate, or try to attack,” said the double Olympic bronze medallist.
“Sometimes, some teams want you to attack. That’s when we may try the Korean or Indian style of hockey; just stay back and get the counters and then go for it. Some teams love to play zonal so we’ll try to play man-to-man against them, or vice-versa. It totally depends on our opposition.”
India have got enough number of games under their belt of late going into the tournament. Apart from playing in the Hockey India League (HIL) in January, some players have also played for the senior India team while some were part of the previous Junior World Cup campaign.
“After the HIL, we went to Europe to play a couple of exposure events with Holland, France and Belgium. We also played a four-nation tournament in Germany. We picked around 24-25 players and travelled with them to make sure everyone has some experience playing internationally,” said Sreejesh.
Sreejesh took his team to Rajgir during the Asia Cup in August-September to play preparatory matches against Indian Navy and Japan. “That was a great experience for the youngsters because playing against seniors is a bit tough. The team played well. The results were positive,” said Sreejesh, three-time winner of the FIH Goalkeeper of the Year award.
The team’s latest outing was the Sultan of Johor Cup where India had a creditable runners-up finish, losing to Australia in the final.
