File picture of goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh with the Indian flag after India won the men’s hockey bronze medal match against Spain at the 2024 Summer Olympics, in Colombes, France, on August 8, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Hockey India on Wednesday decided to retire the jersey number of goalkeeping stalwart P.R. Sreejesh, who retired after playing a pivotal role in the country’s second consecutive Olympic bronze medal at the just-concluded Paris Games.

Hockey India secretary general Bhola Nath Singh also announced that the affable 36-year-old, who donned the No. 16 jersey for nearly two decades, will take up the role of the junior national coach.

“Sreejesh is now going to be the junior team coach and we are retiring the No. 16 jersey for the senior team. We are not retiring No. 16 for the junior team.

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“Sreejesh dusra Sreejesh ko paida karega in junior team (Sreejesh will groom someone like him in the junior team who will wear the No. 16 jersey),” said Singh at a felicitation function for the veteran.