He is the second Indian athlete after Women's Hockey captain Rani to win this prestigious award.

The winner was adjudged through the online voting process and Sreejesh accumulated a mammoth 1,27,647 votes to bag this award. In 2019, Rani had bagged this award with 1,99,477 votes.

This was the Ninth edition of the IWGA initiative that recognises and honours an athlete or a team for their outstanding performance in 2021, or for their social commitment or particularly fair behaviour.

A total of 24 athletes from 17 countries were nominated for this award from their respective sports by their international federations.

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) had recommended Sreejesh's name for his outstanding efforts in the year 2021.

“I am honoured to win this award. First of all, a big thank you to FIH for nominating me for this award, and secondly thanks to all the Indian hockey lovers around the world, who voted for me. By getting nominated I did my part, but the rest was done by the fans and hockey lovers. So, definitely, this award goes to them, and I think they deserve this award more than me,” said Sreejesh.

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," he added.

"Also, I am a person, who doesn't believe in individual awards, especially when you are part of a team. It's not only the team of 33 players, but you have a lot of people involved behind as well, it's a collective effort of a nation to get this kind of recognition," opined the three-time Olympian.

“On behalf of Hockey India, I congratulate Sreejesh for winning the prestigious World Games Athlete of the Year 2021 Award,” said Hockey India President Gyanendro Ningombam.

"This is a very proud and special moment for India as he became the only second Indian athlete to win this honour. I would like to thank FIH, the hockey community around the world, and of course, all his fans for supporting him and voting him to win this award. It's a big achievement for him as well as to Indian hockey."

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) CEO Thierry Weil congratulated the goalkeeper "On behalf of the global hockey community, I’d like to wholeheartedly congratulate PR Sreejesh for this magnificent achievement.

“This is a great recognition for him, for his team and for hockey as a whole. We also extend our sincerest thanks to all fans who voted for him. Athletes are the best ambassadors of our sport and India’s goalkeeper certainly is a leader in this field too!,” he added.