Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) host Amitabh Bachchan became emotional when PR Sreejesh, goalkeeper of India’s bronze medal-winning Tokyo Olympics team, told the Bollywood superstar about the struggle that he and his family had to go through to make him a professional hockey player. Recounting his journey, PR Sreejesh told Amitabh Bachchan how his father had to sell a family cow in order to buy Sreejesh sports equipment. 

Indian bronze-winning hockey team’s goalkeeper said in Hindi that the day he was selected at the GV Raja Sports School, his father asked him if he would be able to get a job if he were to pursue sports. “I asked him to let me give it a shot for three years, and if I fail, I’ll change sports. So I started playing hockey and became a goalkeeper, but goalkeeping is slightly expensive.”

PR Sreejesh said that it is his father’s decision to support him by selling the family cow that motivates him whenever he feels down because it reminds him of what his father had sacrificed, and the huge risk he had taken. 

PR Sreejesh and Neeraj Chopra won Rs 25 lakh at the game show. The episode saw a lot of action, with Amitabh Bachchan playing hockey with PR Sreejesh and Neeraj Chopra teaching Big B how to throw a javelin, and candid conversations about how the sports stars were initiated into their respective sports, their various struggles and how they reached the Olympic stage. 

Sreejesh also recounted how the Indian men’s hockey team was cast aside after it failed to win a single trophy in the 2012 London Olympics. Sreejesh said the team would be made to sit in the back row on special events. He spoke about how he and other senior members of the team motivated the young team at the Tokyo Olympics to focus on only one game at a time.