‘We deserve to celebrate this silver’: PR Sreejesh hits back at critics

India bagged a total of 61 medals at the Commonwealth Games 2022, out of which 22 were gold.

However, India’s campaign at the quadrennial event didn’t have an ideal ending, despite the country securing a silver medal in men’s hockey, which was the final event before the closing ceremony. In one of its worst performances in recent times, the Manpreet Singh-led Indian unit suffered a 0-7 loss against the defending champions Australia.

Disappointed with the show, many Indian fans and experts were harsh with their reactions and it seems to have disturbed PR Sreejesh a bit. Hitting back at the critical assessment, the veteran hockey goalkeeper, who was part of the Indian team in Birmingham, in a tweet highlighted the team’s “wonderful” campaign leading up to the finals at CWG. He also took a cheeky dig and thanked people for their “valuable advices”.

“We didn’t win Gold. I know what happened, we know what happened, even you know what happened. ‘Thank you for your valuable advices Still..This team had a wonderful journey through out the tournament. We deserve to celebrate this silver. Thank you all,” his tweet read after the clash.

Since hockey’s introduction at the Commonwealth Games in 1998, Australia has always stood on top of the podium. This is India’s third defeat against Australia in a CWG final, having lost to them in the 2010 and the 2014 editions of the Games.

The other time India suffered such a heavy defeat in CWG was in 2010 edition in New Delhi, where Australia hammered the hosts 8-0.