Former India hockey captain and goalkeeper PR Sreejesh tore into the men’s team and the administrators for the team’s below-par performance in the FIH World Cup in Amstelveen and said Hockey India will now prop up the Asian Games to sweep the problems under the carpet.
India crashed out of another edition of the Hockey World Cup without a medal, failing to reach the semifinals after suffering two defeats in two matches in Pool E in Stage 2. On Monday, India went down 3-5 to Argentina in the FIH World Cup, suffering their second successive defeat after losing 1-3 to the Netherlands a couple of days back.
Sreejesh pointed out the fact that the team failed to put up much of a fight in Stage 2 of the FIH World Cup 2026, while the women’s team performed better despite its coach Sjoerd Marijne leaving the camp to go home on holiday ahead of the mega event.
In a post reeking of sarcasm and seeking accountability, Sreejesh said: “Don’t worry… the World Cup doesn’t matter. “The Asian Games are coming. Win a medal there, and then we can start dreaming about LA 2028. Apparently, that’s enough to cover everything that went wrong at the World Cup,” Sreejesh wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Sreejesh questioned the lack of accountability on the part of the team management, while giving credit to the women’s team players for their performance.
“Women’s chief coach on holiday just before the World Cup, and the girls still fought their hearts out and exceeded expectations. Credit to the players. But where is the accountability? Do we really expect a team to perform at its best when the chief coach is away during the final phase of preparation?”
The former India goalkeeper, who was recently deposed as the chief coach of the junior men’s team, also pointed out various phrases trotted out by the stakeholders every time the results go against the team.
“Men’s team loses to a top team → “It’s a learning experience.” Beats an Asian team → “Great victory.” Plays good hockey → “Good performance.”
“But here’s the uncomfortable question: Are we building a team to PLAY good hockey, or a team capable of WINNING against the best in the world?
“Stop hiding behind “learning”, “good hockey” and future tournaments. The World Cup is not a rehearsal. It is the World Cup,” wrote Sreejesh in his post
“So who is going to ask the difficult questions? Who is going to demand accountability? And most importantly…Does anyone actually care?” the former India captain asked.
