Former India hockey goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, who played a huge role in India’s bronze medal-winning exploits in the Tokyo and Paris Olympic Games, will don a new hat, The Telegraph can confirm.

Sreejesh has been roped in as team director by the Delhi franchise of the Hockey India League (HIL), which will be relaunched after a seven-season hiatus.

APL Apollo-led SG Sports Ventures, which already has a team in the Global Chess League, owns the Delhi franchise.

Sreejesh will be reuniting with former India coach Graham Reid for the league. The Australian, who had masterminded India’s first podium finish in 41 years at the Tokyo Olympics, will be the chief coach of the franchise.

SG Sports Ventures also has multiple grand slam title winner Mahesh Bhupathi on board as the chief executive officer of the vertical.

The franchise owners are expected to unveil their signings in the capital on Friday.

Sreejesh, 36, announced his retirement just before the Paris Games began in July. He is one of the most famous faces of world hockey and in mid-August, Hockey India announced that it will retire jersey No. 16 in honour of Sreejesh. The Wall, as he is called by peers for his fantastic skills, is also in contention for the FIH goalkeeper of the year award.

Reid is the man credited for resurrecting Indian hockey as the country ended the eternal wait for a medal in the Olympic Games. His fast-paced style of hockey suited India but after the World Cup debacle in January last year, a change in guard seemed obvious. Ultimately he left his job in March 2023 handing over the reins to Craig Fulton.

The HIL will feature eight men’s and six women’s teams. Hockey India has also invited players from the top 15 hockey-playing nations to register their players and support staff for the season which will be held in the window sanctioned by FIH; the last week of December 2024 to the first week of February 2025.

At the news conference after India won the bronze medal in Paris, Sreejesh
and captain Harmanpreet Singh had credited the league for the revival of the game in the country.

The chess entity, Alpine SG Pipers, has superstar Magnus Carlsen of Norway and the Indian duo of
world No. 4 Dommaraju Gukesh and world No. 12 Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa in its ranks.

The website of APL Apollo Tubes Limited claims to be the largest producer of structural steel tubes in India with an extended distribution network of warehouses and branch offices in 29 cities across the country.