New Delhi: India’s star defender and drag-flicker Harmanpreet Singh has been nominated for FIH Player of the Year after winning the award in 2020-21. Indian players and coaches got a nomination in several other categories as well. The defender called it a huge honour and a recognition of his hard work for the national side.
Harmanpreet was monumental in India’s silver medal win at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham this year, and he also won bronze at the Asian Champions Trophy Dhaka in 2021. His drag-flicks were also crucial in winning the bronze medal at the Tokyo games.
Other Indians nominated for the FIH awards are PR Sreejesh for the Goalkeeper of the Year (Men), Savita Punia for Goalkeeper of the Year (Women), Sanjay for the Rising Star of the Year (Men), Mumtaz Khan for Rising Star of the Year (Women). Even Indian coaches, who were the key to the change in strategy to win medals and display dominating performances also got nominated. Graham Reid got a nomination for Coach of the Year (Men) while Janneke Schopman for Coach of the Year (Women).
Harmanpreet also talked about the fact that the Indian hockey players are getting nominated quite often for the top awards and this indicates that sport in the country has improved over the last couple of years and is also witnessing rapid growth. He added, “The Indian Men’s and Women’s Teams have grown at a tremendous pace and I feel that we can produce even better results in the future. These are very exciting times for Indian hockey.”
He told that the team is looking forward to the FIH Hockey Pro League 2022-23 and said that they have improved on a few aspects after the Birmingham games. India stood third in the last edition of the Hockey Pro League.
