Three days after the Indian hockey team clinched the inaugural Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament, goal keeper P.R Sreejesh returned home on Wednesday to a rousing reception.
Hundreds of people, including his family members and friends, turned up at the airport to receive and felicitate the player on his landing here by an Air India flight from Delhi at 8.40 p.m.
As soon as the player came out of the terminal, his jubilant supporters began raising deafening cheers and clicking away with their camera phones.
The frenzy was such that disregarding the security measures put in place by the airport personnel, the supporters of Mr. Sreejesh garlanded him, showered him with rose petals and raised slogans like “zindabad” and “the pride of Kerala.''
At the head of those who received the player were his parents Usha and Ravi, apart from the Hockey India interim president Mariamma Koshy along with the president of the Ernakulam unit of the Kerala Hockey Association Haseeb and secretary Baby Tadaus. Anwar Sadath, MLA, and K P Dhanapalan, MP, were present on the occasion. Talking to the media contingent waiting outside, Mr. Sreejesh attributed the success of the Indian players to team work. Thanking his supporters for the reception accorded to him, he expressed the hope that the victory would contribute to making the game more popular in the country.
To a query on the players rejecting the Rs.25,000 offered by Hockey India, he replied that it was a collective decision and said the issue had been resolved.
