A battle-hardened PR Sreejesh gave a big fillip to the Indian hockey team's aspirations of winning a second consecutive Olympic medal with his splendid shootout saves in a 4-2 victory over Great Britain that earned his side a place in the semifinals of the Paris Games here Sunday.
Playing most of the match without key defender Amit Rohidas, who was shown a red card for hitting a rival player with his stick, the team did extremely well to hold Great Britain to 1-1 in regulation time.
Great Britain dominated possession and played with man-to-man marking, not allowing India to attack much.
In the absence of Rohidas, Manpreet Singh, who plays in mid-field, was asked to man the defence.
Reduced to 10 men on the pitch, India could not play scoop balls, a strategy that worked for the side in previous matches, but it managed to escape without getting hurt.
It all boiled down to how Sreejesh would perform and the veteran goalkeeper did not disappoint, blocking the third and fourth attempts
