PR Sreejesh second Indian to win 2021 World Games Athlete of the Year award
2021 World Games Athlete of the Year: Indian Men’s Hockey Team Goalkeeper, PR Sreejesh has been named the 2021 World Games Athlete of the Year on January 31, 2022. It became thIndia’s No. 1 male athlete and India’s No. 2 sportsman overall to gain honor.
India’s women’s hockey team captain Rani Rampal was the first Indian to win World Games Athlete of the Year in 2020.
PR Sreejesh was an integral part of the Indian men’s hockey team that won the bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The 33-year-old beat Spanish Olympic sport climbing champion Alberto Ginés López and Italian player of wushu Michele Giordano to win the World Games Athlete. Award of the year 2021.
Congratulations to the 2021 World Games athlete, hockey goalie star PR Sreejesh!
Congratulations also to the finalists, Olympic sport climbing champion Alberto Ginés López 🇪🇸 and Wushu star Michele Giordano 🇮🇹. #TheWorldGamesAOTY @FIH_Hockey @ProtectiveLife pic.twitter.com/5AYM0stgY4
— The World Games (@TheWorldGames)
January 31, 2022
A total of 24 athletes from 17 countries were nominated for the annual award based on individual and team performance. The winner was decided after three weeks of online voting.
2021 World Games Athlete of the Year
PR Sreejesh was the big winner with a total of 1,27,647 votes, nearly double the number of votes received by the first dolphin Albert Ginés Lopezwhich received 67,428 votes.
#TheWorldGamesAOTY Sreejesh helped India win bronze at the 2020 Olympics – their first Olympic hockey medal in 41 years. He is admired for his sportsmanship, his kindness and his desire to make the world a better place. You’ll learn more about the real team player in the days to come! pic.twitter.com/6ude3Y1itC
— The World Games (@TheWorldGames)
January 31, 2022
Congratulations to the 1st dolphin, #SportClimbing Olympic Champion Alberto Ginés López 🇪🇸!
You will learn more about him also in the days to come 😊#TheWorldGamesAOTY #WeAreTheWorldGames pic.twitter.com/Mq9yfMRZbD
— The World Games (@TheWorldGames)
January 31, 2022
Italian Wushu Star Michele Giordano was the 2nd runner-up with 52,046 votes.
Speaking after winning the 2021 World Games Athlete of the Year, PR Sreejesh said in a video statement that he was very honored to win the award. He thanked the FIH for nominating him for this award and also thanked all Indian hockey fans around the world, who voted for him.
He dedicated his award to hockey fans and fans saying: “I think they deserve this award more than me. This is also a great moment for Indian hockey because everyone in the hockey community, all the hockey federations all over the world voted for me, so this It’s great to see this support from the hockey family.”
Thank you very much 🙏
It is a great honor for me to receive the World Games Athelet of the Year 20201 https://t.co/rPy1andVp2 on this occasion, I would like to thank you all for taking your precious time to vote for me.
Thank you @FIH_Hockey @TheHockeyIndia pic.twitter.com/88V8yrmQsS— sreejesh pr (@16Sreejesh)
January 31, 2022
PR Sreejesh’s wall-like presence in front of goal has helped India reach third place in the world rankings in 2021, which is their highest ranking yet. Sreejesh was also named FIH Goalkeeper of the Year 2021 at the FIH Stars Awards in October 2021.
