BHUBANESWAR : PR Sreejesh arrived back in the city on Wednesday night after attending to his ailing father. The India custodian, who played against Belgium on Sunday, had left for Ernakulam in the wee hours of Monday morning after hearing about his father’s medical condition.
Raveendran Parattu, a heart patient who had been on medication for a while, was admitted to a hospital on Saturday night but the 30-year-old’s family members had not conveyed the news to him. So, in effect, Sreejesh faced up to the Red Lions when his father was actually in hospital.
His condition had steadily declined so he underwent an angioplasty on Monday. Hockey India and Harendra Singh had readily agreed to let him go to Kerala for a couple of days because of the big gap between the Belgium match and the next match against Canada on Saturday.
“His father isn’t well and there was a big gap before our third match against Canada. So Sreejesh was given permission to visit his family,” coach Harendra said after a training session on Wednesday.
India will top Pool C with a victory over Canada provided the Olympic silver-medallists don’t rack up the goals against South Africa.