India's Sreejesh, Savita voted FIH Men's and Women's Goalkeepers of the Year

In his 16th year as a full international for India, Sreejesh once again showed his value to the team, playing in all 16 games in the FIH Hockey Pro League as India finished in the third position. He also played in all six games at 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games where India won the silver medal. "The longevity of PR Sreejesh's career continues to defy logic as the 34-year-old Indian shot-stopper continues to raise his game as the years roll on," the FIH said in a statement on Sreejesh, who had also won the award last year.

Sreejesh got 39.9 total points in the voting, followed by Belgium's Loic van Doren (26.3 points) and Netherlands' Primin Blaak (23.2 points). The votes were cast online by experts (40%), teams (20%), fans (20%) and media (20%). Sreejesh is the third player to win back-to-back FIH Goalkeeper of the Year award.

A similar feat was achieved in the past by David Harte (Ireland) who won the award in 2015 and 2016, and Vincent Vanasch (Belgium) who won it three consecutive times from 2017 to 2019. During the course of the season, Sreejesh also completed 250 international appearances, becoming the eighth Indian and the only goalkeeper to achieve the feat. "No doubt, this is a special award because the hockey fans are voting for us.

This is a big honour for me and a testimony to all the hard work," said Sreejesh who is currently at the SAI Centre, Bengaluru along with his teammates in the national camp for the upcoming FIH Hockey Pro League. "Winning awards, no matter at what stage in your career you are at, is always a motivating factor. This award surely motivates me to further improve and do well in an all-important year where we will play the FIH Hockey Men's World Cup Bhubaneswar-Rourkela 2023." The