Indian men’s hockey team captain Harmanpreet Singh expressed his desire to repay the faith his team has placed in him following his nomination for the FIH Player of the Year Award at the FIH Hockey Stars Awards.
The 28-year-old defender previously won the award in 2020-21 and 2021-22.
“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,” said Harmanpreet.
He has been nominated alongside Thierry Brinkman (NED), Joep de Mol (NED), Hannes Müller (GER), and Zach Wallace (ENG) based on performances in all international matches held in 2024, including Test Matches, the FIH Hockey Pro League, FIH Hockey Nations Cups, FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers, and the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Harmanpreet, who led the Indian team to a bronze medal by defeating Spain 2-1 at the Paris 2024 Olympics, had an outstanding tournament, scoring 10 goals in eight games.
He was the top scorer at the Olympics, with seven of those goals coming from penalty corners and the remaining three from penalty strokes.
“The Olympic Games Paris 2024 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 buy 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 a brief break following the Olympic Games, Harmanpreet set his sights on the Asian Champions Trophy 2024 in Moqi, China. Leading by example, he scored seven goals in seven games and was named Player of the Tournament as India defended the title in China.
By the end of the tournament, the Indian skipper had amassed an impressive total of 205 goals in 234 matches for the country.
“The aim is to bring back the glory days of old. We will leave no stone unturned in order to realise this dream but we cannot do it on our own; we need support from our fans. As the team prepares for the next Olympics cycle, I urge Indians to watch the sport and support us,” Harmanpreet concluded.
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