Harmanpreet Singh named FIH Player of the Year, PR Sreejesh gets best goalkeeper award

Muscat:  Indian men’s hockey team captain Harmanpreet Singh has been named Player of the Year 2024 while retired goalkeeper PR Sreejesh was awarded Goalkeeper of the Year accolade during the gala night of the 49th FIH Statutory Congress in Oman on Friday.

The winners were declared following a vote by an Expert Panel, National Associations – represented by their respective national teams’ captains and coaches – fans and media.

Harmanpreet Singh was the standout player amongst the men’s nominees, receiving the most votes across all categories of voters. Much like Yibbi Jansen in the women’s competition, Indian captain Harmanpreet led the scoring charts at the Paris 2024 Olympics with 10 goals including goals in the quarterfinal, semi-final and both goals in the bronze medal match against Spain, which India won 2-1 to secure their second consecutive podium finish at the Olympics.

Harmanpreet was also a crucial cog in the Indian team that had broken their 41-year podium drought at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. He has previously won the FIH Player of the Year award on two occasions in 2020-21 and in 2021-22. The third one might just be the most precious one however, given it’s been won while leading his country for the first time, after taking over captaincy in 2023, and leading his team to an Olympic medal in his first attempt!

Speaking about the celebrations back home after he captained his side to a second consecutive medal at the Olympics, Harmanpreet said: “First off, I would like to thank FIH for this great honour. After the Olympics it was so great to go back home and have such huge crowds there to greet us and welcome us. It was a very very special feeling. I would like to mention my teammates, none of this would have been possible without you all. Special thanks to Hockey India as well for always giving us every opportunity to succeed at all levels. My wife and daughter are here today and receiving this award in front of them means the world to me. So thank you to everyone who made that possible!”

On the other hand, PR Sreejesh brought an end to his stellar career at the Paris 2024 Olympics, by adding a second Olympic medal to his trophy cabinet and now he gets to add a third FIH Goalkeeper of the Year award as well, having previously won the award in 2020-21 and 2021-22. Sreejesh bid adieu to hockey at the highest level, putting together an incredible Olympic campaign, that included a mammoth performance in the quarterfinal win for India over Great Britain, where they played most of the match with 10 players!

Much like his compatriot Harmanpreet Singh, Sreejesh received the most votes across all categories of voters.

Thanking those that have helped him along his wonderful career, Srejeesh said: “I am so happy today. Thank you for this last playing honour of my playing career. As most people know, Paris 2024 was the last tournament I played for my country and I just want to thank Hockey India for all the support and guidance offered over all the years I have played the sport. This award completely belongs to my team, the defence who made sure most attacks never got to me, and the midfielders and forwards who covered up my mistakes by scoring more goals than I conceded.”

Yibbi Jansen of Netherlands was named the FIH Player of the Year 2024 while China’s Ye Jiao won the Goalkeeper of the Year 2024 awards. The awards for FIH Rising Stars went to Zoe Díaz of Argentina and Sufyan Khan of Pakistan.

For the second year in a row China women’s head coach Alyson Annan (Australia) has been awarded the FIH Coach of the Year award in the women’s category, while Jeroen Delmee (Netherlands) wins the FIH Coach of the Year award in the men’s category.

Sarah Wilson of Scotland and Steve Rogers of Australia won the FIH Umpire of the Year award in the women’s and men’s category respectively.

–IANS