Indian PR Sreejesh has been named the World Games Athlete of the Year 2021

PR Srejeesh, a goalkeeper for the Indian national hockey team that won a bronze medal in the Tokyo Olympics, has been named the World Games Athlete of the Year for his efforts in 2021, becoming just the second Indian to receive the honour.

In a statement on Monday, the FIH said that Sreejesh’ s win makes him just the second male player to win the award. Rani, who took home the 2019 prize, was the first woman.

The World Games fans ranked Sreejesh first on TheWorldGames.org, with 1,27,647 votes. The second-placed athlete, Spain’s Albert Ginés Lopez, received 67,428 votes.

In addition to winning the FIH Goalkeeper of the Year award for 2021, PR Sreejesh said, “I am extremely honored to have won this award. I would like to thank the FIH for the award and all the Indian hockey fans who voted for me.

The fans voted for me, and I think they deserve this award more than I do. It’s a big moment for Indian Hockey too because everyone in the hockey community voted for me, so it’s great to see support from the hockey family,” Indian hockey player Sreejesh told the FIH.

The three-time Olympian further added, “Also, I am a person who doesn’t believe in individual awards, especially when you are part of a team. It’s not only the team of 33 players, but you have a lot of people involved behind as well, there’s coaching staff, there’s support staff, there’s a great association like Hockey India who is supporting you a lot, there’s Sports Authority of India (SAI), who are providing you with all the world-class facilities to train, there’s Odisha Government whose unwavering support helps the sport grow and flourish and there’s India Olympic Association (IOA) as well, who’re taking care of you really well. So, it’s a collective effort of a nation to get this kind of recognition.”

He is also voted for FIH Goalkeeper of the Year for 2021.