Rio 2016: Everyone is hungry to get a medal, says PR Sreejesh

Did you expect to go to your second Olympics as the captain of the Indian team?

It's an unpredictable thing for me. I never really expected the captaincy, honestly. It's a great honour to lead India at the Olympics. It's a very, very special feeling.

From being a second-choice goalkeeper in the 2012 London Olympics to leading the team in Rio, your career has come a long way. Are you proud of how you have grown as a player in these four years?

That's how every player is being moulded in the team, especially the goalkeepers. When the other players are in the 16, they always get a chance to step on to the field. But as a goalkeeper, you need more experience. You need to play a lot of practice matches. You need to substitute goalkeepers at half-time, and that's how you will gradually become the main goalkeeper. That's how I grew. I was under Adrian D'Souza, then under Bharat Chettri. The things that I learnt under them are helping me in my career now. There's a difference between a young goalkeeper and an experienced goalkeeper. In a pressure situation, an experienced goalkeeper can handle the situation in a calm manner.

You've done that many a time in the past four years, carrying India's goalkeeping hopes single-handedly on your shoulders. How much pressure does that put on you going into a big tournament like Olympics?

That's a great thing, isn't it? Being in the thick of things is a good thing. For me, it's all about concentrating on the basics. In the last four years, I've been playing in the main XI consistently. So, that experience will give me a big exposure going into Rio. I've played one Olympics already, two World Cups, quite a few Commonwealth Games (CWG) and Champions Trophy (CT). The experience of playing in all these tournaments helps me calm down going into a mega event like the Olympics, take the pressure positively and perform at the maximum level for the team.

Talking of the team, the think-tank has tried many youngsters over the past few tournaments, and included some in the Olympics squad. Do you think this Rio-bound team is the right mix of seniors and juniors?

We've maintained this trend for the last three years, so that's a very good thing. The understanding between players and coaches, and among players themselves, has built really well. The team is gelling very well, and that's why we are getting positive results. Yes, we need youngsters in our team. With only seniors, you can't do anything, and vice-versa. So the mixture of experience and youth in this team is an ideal combination. Whenever juniors make mistakes, the seniors are there to support them and guide them. Similarly, when the seniors get tired, the juniors step up and use their fitness levels to take their place. If you see in the last tournament (CT), we were in good shape in all aspects: be it skills or fitness. So, it's a good sign for us going into Rio, that we're building in the right direction and doing a good job. And, beating almost all top teams in the world has also given an added confidence to our team.

In CT, even though you were the official captain of the team, many players wore the captain's armband. Do players in this team perform better when there is a responsibility on them?

It's a really good sign. A captain has to take responsibilities. When I'm the captain, I'll take care of the players outside the field. But on the field, each player in this team takes initiatives. So, distribution of that responsibility is an important thing. When it comes to team events, you can't depend on one person. When we develop more leaders in our team, it's easy for us to distribute responsibilities, take initiatives and show leadership qualities. That's how we played so well in the CT. We decided to follow it, and that's why I'm here as a captain today.

This team has won medals in big tournaments after a long time, be it CT, Hockey World League, Asian Games or CWG. Do players now know how to win big matches? And, how much belief do these medals add to the confidence of the team going into Rio?

Again, it's the experience of the last three years that is helping us now. It's helping in building the confidence of the players. This is how we need to perform. If you see the last couple of years, we've always beaten the top teams in the quarterfinals of major events. So, that's an added advantage for us, because in this Olympics, there will be quarterfinals. At that stage, the previous experiences will help us perform well.

But, every tournament is different. You can't compare CT and Olympics. It's a different atmosphere, different pressure. I think in Rio, we need to concentrate more on our basics. More importantly, we need to show consistency in our performances and take it match by match. It's upto us to decide where you want to finish in the league stage, because that will be important. The top team in our pool will play the bottom team in the other pool in the quarterfinal. So if you win more matches and place yourself somewhere in the top two in the pool, you will get a weaker team from the other pool. That's what our plan is.

You speak of consistency in the team. Is that the biggest improvement the players have shown recently?

Absolutely. We've been playing together for a long time. The players are understanding very well each other and also the system. Once that happens, it becomes easy to perform well on the pitch. That's why we are performing well and showing the consistency. The system has totally changed, and that's why the players are getting more confident.

A key thing that stands out among the current crop of players is the unity. It was something that was missing in 2012, isn't it? Is that the biggest hallmark of this team?

In 2012, we were a team. But the only thing was that by the time we reached Olympics, we were burnt out because of the number of tournaments that we participated in. This time, that's a big plus. Before reaching Rio, everyone is focussed solely on the tournament and enjoying it to the fullest. Everyone is hungry to win a medal. Everyone wants to give his best. No one wants to leave a chance to regret. It's all about Rio now for us.

Out of that 2012 squad, only six members remain in this team. You are one of them. Will the disappointment of London still play in the back of your mind once you play in Rio?

Yes, definitely. The pain is still there, no doubt. But now, we know that every time you step onto the field, you need to improve, you need to perform, and you need to think about hockey. Every time a ball comes near my goal post, I need to think that I have to save it. I can't let my team down. I don't want to repeat 2012. That's the only thing that keeps pushing us harder. That's the main message we passed on to the new-comers, saying 'OK, this is what happened to us in London, and we don't want to repeat that in Rio'. But having said that, past is past. After that, we have gradually improved and now we are in the top five. That's an added confidence for us. It will help us, and so will the pain of 2012. I hope all those come together and work for us in Rio.

Finally, many experts feel India should keep their expectations in check, and not expect a medal from hockey. Do the players really feel they can create some history in Rio?

I think we already have a lot of history at the Olympics. We've won gold, silver, bronze in the past. So it's not about history. But yes, it's been a long gap (since we last won an Olympic medal). We want to stop that gap. We just want to say that we're there. So the ultimate dream for us is to perform to our maximum and reach the podium. And, we're working really hard for that.