The FIH Player of the Year Award nominee for India was announced on Saturday. Harmanpreet Singh, the skipper, led his team to a bronze medal in hockey at the Olympics in Paris for the second time in a row.
The 28-year-old drag-flicker, who scored 10 goals in eight games to top the scoring at the Olympics in Paris, had previously won the prize twice in a row from 2020 to 22.
The Indian defense said in a Hockey India announcement, “It is a great honour to be nominated for the FIH Player of the Year Award again.”
“While I am elated to be named among some of the best players in the world, I would like to acknowledge that it would not have been possible without the support of my team.
“All the goals I have scored in the FIH Hockey Pro League, and the Paris 2024 Olympic Games are because the team created those goal-scoring chances for me,” he added.
Zach Wallace of England, Hannes Müller of Germany, and the Dutch team of Thierry Brinkman and Joep van Mol are the other nominees besides Harmanpreet.
All international competitions in 2024 were taken into account, including Olympic Games, FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers, FIH Hockey Pro League, FIH Hockey Nations Cups, and Test matches.
Seven of the ten goals scored by the poised and patient captain of India were from penalty corners, with the final three coming from penalty strokes.
Harmanpreet thanked his squad for their continuous support at difficult moments, like as his troubles with penalty corners in the previous World Cup, and said that the Olympics in Paris were the apex of his career.
“The Olympic Games in Paris was not just the highlight of the year, but the highlight of my whole career so far. The team has always had my back, especially during the World Cup last year where I couldn’t get a goal from penalty corners.
“But the team didn’t let me wallow or blame myself in any way and while there were a lot of reasons to perform at the Olympics and come back with a medal, I always had it in the back of my head that I needed to repay the faith the team has placed in me,” he revealed.
After the Olympics, Harmanpreet took a brief break before leading India’s championship defence at the Hero Asian Champions Trophy 2024 in Moqi, China.
Harmanpreet finished the competition as the sport’s greatest player after scoring an incredible 205 goals in 226 games for his nation—a feat only rivaled by sport’s icons, Major Dhyan Chand and Balbir Singh Sr.
Voting for the awards is open till October 11.
