KOLKATA: With the Indian males’s hockey crew getting ready to defend its Asian Video games title, former captain and goalkeeper PR Sreejesh believes the following two years will probably be essential not only for profitable in Asia however for constructing a crew able to difficult the world’s greatest on the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.Sreejesh mentioned the interval following the Asian Video games would current the perfect alternative to make adjustments to the squad and regularly combine youthful gamers into the senior setup. “If you wish to make any adjustments, that is the suitable time,” Sreejesh instructed TOI in an unique interview.“Subsequent 12 months we play the Professional League, some Check matches and perhaps Azlan Shah Trophy. Then the 12 months after, it’s going to be the identical set of matches. So, after the Asian Video games and the Hockey India League, that is the suitable time to alter the core group or the teaching employees. Then it turns into simpler to give attention to a two-year cycle and construct a brand new crew with a brand new assist employees.”The 2-time Olympic medallist, who’s at the moment working in Kerala’s Schooling Division, additionally felt India’s disappointing World Cup marketing campaign ought to function a actuality test regardless of the crew’s dominance in Asia.“Asian hockey will not be the benchmark. If we’re realistically eager about 2028, we have to take a look at the place we stand in opposition to the most effective groups on the earth,” he mentioned. “Beating a prime crew as soon as in a match will not be sufficient. We want consistency.”Whereas backing India to retain the Asian Video games crown, the place they’re in Group A, alongside Japan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Indonesia, Sreejesh cautioned in opposition to conceding avoidable targets and squandering alternatives on the different finish.“If the opposition scores via an excellent transfer, you may admire that. However conceding targets via foolish errors is like killing your self,” he added. “On the identical time, getting possibilities and never changing them is equally pricey. We simply should be sharper and do the straightforward issues in one of the best ways doable.”The previous India custodian, in the meantime, had a message for the 2 goalkeepers, Mohith HS and Suraj Karkera, forward of the continental match. Communication, he mentioned, can be key, however equally necessary can be the flexibility to shortly transfer on after errors.Recalling recommendation from one in all his personal goalkeeping coaches, he added: “A goalkeeper ought to be like a duck. When water falls on a duck, it simply rolls off. Objectives ought to be the identical. Whether or not you concede one or make a save, it shouldn’t stick with you. It ought to drain out instantly. That’s the mentality a goalkeeper wants.”Trying forward, Sreejesh, who coached the Indian males’s junior crew to a bronze medal on the 2025 Junior World Cup, additionally underlined the necessity to create a smoother pathway from junior to senior hockey, warning in opposition to leaving a vacuum as soon as the present core group strikes on.“The gamers are doing their job. The system has to do its job. We have to combine kids into the senior setup and provides them alternatives to progress on the worldwide stage,” mentioned Sreejesh, who lately accomplished the FIH Stage 4 teaching course in Belgium.Regardless of calling for a longer-term give attention to the Olympic cycle, Sreejesh remained assured about India’s instant prospects. “For the Asian stage, I feel we’re ok to win. The crew doesn’t have to do something extraordinary. They simply have to play their pure recreation,” he mentioned.However whilst he expects India to dominate on the Asiad, he believes the match also needs to mark the start of the crew’s street to Los Angeles 2028, with an eye fixed on constructing a squad able to constantly competing with the world’s greatest.Tune-In: Watch Asian Video games 2026 stay and unique on Sony Sports activities Community and Sony LIV.