World Games Athlete of the Year 2021: Indian men's hockey team goalkeeper, PR Sreejesh was named World Games Athlete of the Year 2021 on January 31, 2022. He became the first Indian male athlete and second Indian sportsperson overall to win the honour.
Indian women's hockey team captain Rani Rampal was the first Indian to win the World Games Athlete of the Year honour in 2020 .
PR Sreejesh was an integral part of the Indian men's hockey team that won the bronze medal in the Tokyo Olympics 2020. The 33-year-old beat Spain's sport climbing Olympic champion Alberto Ginés López and Italian wushu player Michele Giordano to win the World Games Athlete of the Year 2021 award.
Huge congratulations to The World Games Athlete of 2021, Hockey goalkeeper star PR Sreejesh!
— The World Games (@TheWorldGames) January 31, 2022
Also big congratulations to the runners-up, Sport Climbing Olympic champion Alberto Ginés López 🇪🇸 and Wushu star Michele Giordano 🇮🇹. #TheWorldGamesAOTY @FIH_Hockey @ProtectiveLife pic.twitter.com/5AYM0stgY4
Overall, 24 sportspeople from 17 countries were nominated for the annual award based on the individual and team performances. The winner was decided after three weeks of online voting.
World Games Athlete of the Year 2021
PR Sreejesh was the clear winner with a total of 1,27,647 votes, which was almost twice the number of votes received by the first runner-up Albert Ginés Lopez, who received 67,428 votes.
#TheWorldGamesAOTY Sreejesh helped India claim bronze at the 2020 Olympics – their 1st Olympic hockey medal in 41 years. He is admired for his sportsmanship, kindness, and a desire to make the world a better place. You'll learn more about the true team player in the days to come! pic.twitter.com/6ude3Y1itC
— The World Games (@TheWorldGames) January 31, 2022
Congratulations to the 1st runner-up, #SportClimbing Olympic Champion Alberto Ginés López 🇪🇸 !
— The World Games (@TheWorldGames) January 31, 2022
You will learn more about him as well in the days to come 😊#TheWorldGamesAOTY #WeAreTheWorldGames pic.twitter.com/Mq9yfMRZbD
Italian Wushu star Michele Giordano was the 2nd runner-up with 52,046 votes.
Speaking after winning the World Games Athlete of the Year 2021, PR Sreejesh said in a video statement that he is very honoured to win this award. He thanked FIH for nominating him for this award and also thanked all the Indian hockey lovers around the world, who voted for him.
He dedicated his award to fans and hockey lovers saying, "I think they deserve this award more than me. It's a big moment for Indian Hockey as well because everyone in the hockey community, all the hockey federations around the world voted for me, so it's great to see that support from the hockey family."
Thank you very much 🙏
— sreejesh p r (@16Sreejesh) January 31, 2022
It’s a great honour for me to receive the world games Athelet of the year 20201 https://t.co/rPy1andVp2 this occasion I would like to thank you all for taking your precious time to cast vote for me.
Thank you I @FIH_Hockey @TheHockeyIndia pic.twitter.com/88V8yrmQsS
PR Sreejesh’s wall-like presence in front of the goal helped India reach third place in global ranking in 2021, which is its best-ever ranking. Sreejesh was also named the FIH goalkeeper of the year 2021 in the FIH Stars Awards in October 2021.
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