Here is why P R Sreejesh is the GOAT of Kerala sports

Mail This Article
P R Sreejesh is the GOAT (Greatest of All Time) of Kerala sports. Yes, he towers over every icon this south Indian state, with its rich sporting pedigree, has produced over the years. That list includes P T Usha, I M Vijayan and Jimmy George, to name a few.

For starters, Sreejesh has just bagged his second Olympic bronze medal as India defeated Spain 2-1 in men's hockey in Paris 2024. He won his maiden Olympic bronze four years ago in the 2020 edition in Tokyo. Kerala's first Olympic medalist, and the only other, is Manuel Frederick, who was a goalkeeper just like Sreejesh. Frederick was part of the bronze-winning side in the 1972 games.
Considering the Olympics is the pinnacle of sporting excellence, Sreejesh gets the better of Frederick in that regard. Now for comparison sake, let's discuss the career highlights of a few other sporting stars from Kerala.

P T Usha
The veteran track and field athlete is so famous that it was once said a postcard with just her name on it would reach the correct address. Even at 60, Usha is a highly respected sporting personality, not just in Kerala, but throughout India. She is the president of the Indian Olympic Association. Usha won numerous international honours, including four gold medals in the Asian Games. Her best performance in the Olympics was finishing fourth in women's 400m hurdles at the 1984 Los Angeles Games. She missed out on bronze by 1/100th of a second and that moment has since become part of Indian athletics folklore.

Shiny Wilson
A contemporary of Usha, Shiny is one of the most decorated athletes from Kerala with seven gold medals secured in Asian competitions alone. Shiny was the first Indian woman athlete to compete in four Olympics (1984, 88, 92, 96). Her best in an Olympic event was reaching the semifinals in the 800 m.

Anju Bobby George
Anju is the best female long jumper India has produced. Her national record of 6.83m set in 2004 still stands. That performance gave her the fifth place in Athens and it remains her best performance at the Olympic level. Anju secured a historic bronze in the 2003 World Championship in Paris, becoming the first Indian to achieve the feat. That international honour should place her a few ranks above both Usha and Shiny, who did not have many memorable achievements beyond the Asian level.

I M Vijayan
Kerala has produced so many legendary footballers over the years, including T Abdul Rahman (Olympian Rahman), who was part of the Indian team that reached the semifinals in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, O Chandrasekharan, who was a crucial member of India's 1960 Rome Olympics squad and a part of the 1962 Asian Games gold-winning side and Thiruvalla Pappan (T M Varghese), who was the first Malayali footballer to compete in an Olympics (1948). V P Sathyan, C V Pappachan, U Sharaf Ali, K T Chacko and Jo Paul Ancheri are some of the other great footballers Kerala has produced. But Vijayan's aura transcends his achievements as a player. Vijayan was a darling of Indian football in the 1980s and 90s, by which time India had long lost its place as one of the best in Asia.

Jimmy George
Volleyball is one of the most popular sports in Kerala. The game has produced many heroes over the years, including Jimmy, Cyril C Vellore, K C Elamma and K Udayakumar to name a few. Jimmy, Udayakumar and Cyril were part of India's bronze medal-winning side in the 1986 Asia Games in Seoul. That remains Indian volleyball's last moment of glory. Jimmy is widely regarded as a superstar of Indian volleyball, who died prematurely at 32, in a car crash in Italy. The volleyball fraternity constantly debates who was greater: Jimmy, Udayakumar or Cyril. But it is undisputed that Jimmy was a larger-than-life sporting hero.

S Sreesanth
Agree or not, Sreesanth is a modern-day great of Kerala sports. He is the most accomplished cricketer to come out of Kerala and has won two world cups (2011 ICC WC, 2007 T20 WC). The 41-year-old, now unofficially retired, has over 150 international wickets. Sanju Samson, who is Kerala's lone representative in the men's national team now, recently won the T20 WC. Cricket is not part of the Olympics or the Asian Games so it is difficult to place it on a global scale like the other sports discussed above.

Team sports vs Individual sports
Does the performance of an individual in a single-player event hold more merit than that of individuals in a team game? It is a problem one might encounter while trying to evaluate sporting excellence. It is hard to explain, but a possible justification can be found in the fact that certain individuals, who take part in team games, manage to stand out with their skill, leadership and valour or by virtue of match-winning-moments. That is what made (makes) Sachin Tendulkar and Lionel Messi special.
In that context, Sreejesh was a highly valuable part of Indian hockey over the last two decades. Sreejesh drew a lot of attention over the past few weeks, not only because he had announced his retirement post-Paris 2024, but because India relied heavily on his qualities as a goalkeeper.

At 36, Sreejesh produced some remarkable saves to help India to the podium. He saved over 80% of the shots India faced and that is the best stat for men's goalkeepers who competed in the Paris Olympics. India's win over World No. 2 Great Britain in the quarterfinals was just one of the many examples that showed Sreejesh's value. At 3-2 in shoot out, Sreejesh effected a crucial save to send India to the semifinals.
He had done it many times over the years, most memorably the double save in penalty strokes against Pakistan in the final of the 2014 Asian Games. Sreejesh was adjudged the FIH Player of the Year after his Tokyo 2020 heroics. Four years ago, he had famously thwarted a German penalty corner with seven minutes remaining and delivered India the bronze.

For years, since Sardar Singh stepped down in 2016, Sreejesh captained Team India. From being the 'Best Goalkeeper' in the Junior Asia Cup in 2008 to the 'Goalkeeper of The Tournament' in the 2018 Champions Trophy, Sreejesh has consistently delivered glory for India.
Even as he played a team game, Sreejesh wasn't just one of the pack, he was the alpha. As a teenager, Sreejesh wanted to be a track and field athlete. He tried sprinting and long jump at the GV Raja Sports School in Thiruvananthapuram, before he was handed a hockey stick and told to guard the goal. He might have dreamt of becoming a sprinter like Usha or a long jumper like Anju, but he ended up playing a sport that isn't Kerala's forte. But now as he retires after serving the game for over 20 years, it is hard to dispute the fact that Sreejesh is the Greatest Of All Time from Kerala.