Hockey World Cup 2026: Legendary goalkeeper PR Sreejesh has retired after India’s disappointing performance in the 2026 Hockey World Cup. Losing 3-5 to Argentina (India vs Argentina) ended the Indian men’s team’s last hope of reaching the semi-finals. After that, the two-time Olympic bronze medalist former goalkeeper directly questioned the performance of the team. According to him, the World Cup should not be seen as a ‘dress rehearsal’ in any way. Accountability is required.
‘Want to play good hockey, or win?’
In his social media post, Sreejesh posed an ‘uncomfortable question’ to Indian hockey. He wanted to know, is India just building a team to play good hockey, or is it aiming to build a team capable of beating the best teams in the world? According to him, we should stop hiding the failure of the World Cup by talking about good games or future competitions.
‘World Cup is not a rehearsal’
Stop hiding behind ‘learning’, ‘good hockey’ or future tournaments, says Sreejesh. The World Cup is not a rehearsal. It’s the World Cup.’ According to him, it is time to ask tough questions about the party’s failure and demand accountability from those concerned. At the same time, he raised the question, is there really enough concern among those concerned about this performance of Indian hockey?
He also remembered the bad results of the Pro League
India’s performance in the FIH Pro League before the World Cup was also not promising. India finished eighth out of nine teams. However, positive comments from coaches and players ahead of the World Cup gave new hope. But in the end that expectation was not fulfilled. After the loss against Argentina, Sreejesh explained that the consequences of ignoring earlier warnings have come to the fore this time.
Unwilling to excuse the Asian Games
Ahead is next month’s Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games. India is one of the contenders to win a medal there. But Sreejesh made it clear that the Asian Games should not be used as an excuse for the failure of the World Cup. The gist of his speech is that the mentality that all mistakes will be covered by winning a medal in the Asian Games without giving importance to the World Cup is not acceptable. It is important to address the current issues ahead of preparations for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
Questions about the coach of the women’s team
Sreejesh also commented on the performance of the women’s team. The Indian women’s team crashed out of the semi-final race after a goalless draw against Australia. Sreejesh raised the issue of head coach Sward Marijn not being in the camp at the end of the preparation phase during the World Cup and asked, how reasonable is it to expect the best performance from the team if the head coach is absent before the important tournament? But he also praised the women players for their fight and better than expected performance.
Can all liability be avoided because of ‘learning experience’?
Sreejesh also criticized the repeated use of the phrase ‘learning experience’ after the loss. According to him, a loss to a strong team is called a ‘learning experience’, while a win against an Asian team is a big success. He raised the same question about the victory against Pakistan. Sreejesh’s message is clear—India need to be a team that can beat the world’s best regularly. Don’t stop at the satisfaction of just playing well or learning something.