Indian hockey legend PR Sreejesh speaks at the RCB Innovation Lab Indian Sports Summit being held at the Padukone Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence.
As India sets its sights on hosting the Olympics in 2036, two-time Olympic medallist PR Sreejesh has said that the country needs to invest on grassroots development to achieve big at the Olympic Games.
India has made its ambitions to host the Olympics in 2036 known and are building a series of stadiums in Ahmedabad for the mega-event.
Talking about India’s room for growth, Sreejesh said: “We have room to improve in talent identification. At the nursery level, at grassroots, there’s a lot to work on. That’s where the investment needs to go in. If we are speaking about the 2036 Olympics, now is when we need to tap into the talent between the age groups of 12-14 years.”
Sreejesh, who helped India win bronze medals at two successive Olympics in Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024, added at the RCB Innovation Lab Indian Sports Summit on Friday: “Exposure is the key. Getting into the world level and performing from there is the dream. What makes the Olympics unique is the mental pressure. Preparing athletes to be equipped to perform at that level is most important.”
The former India goalkeeper also noted that young athletes presently have examples of Indian success on the global stage. “When we started playing, we always heard about the history of the sport. Now, we can realistically show young kids that we can achieve at the global stage. When I work with U21 players at Hockey India, I want them to believe that they too can achieve success,” he further added.
Beyond medals, Sreejesh said India needed to foster a sports culture. “We need to introduce sports culture into our system. That’s important, not just to win medals but for overall health and well-being. The younger generation is very focused on medals, which is great, but we also need to build a foundation that sustains their journey in sports,” Sreejesh remarked.
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