'Great honour': Harmanpreet Singh credits team for being nominated for FIH Player of the Year

New Delhi: After standout performances in Test matches, the FIH Hockey Pro League and the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Indian men’s hockey team captain and talisman Harmanpreet Singh has been nominated for the FIH Player of the Year Award at the FIH Hockey Stars Awards. The 28-year-old defender has won the prestigious award previously 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,” captain Harmanpreet Singh said.

Harmanpreet has been nominated along with Thierry Brinkman (NED), Joep de Mol (NED), Hannes Müller (GER), and Zach Wallace (ENG) after taking into consideration all international matches held in 2024, including Test Matches, the FIH Hockey Pro League, FIH Hockey Nations Cups, FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers and the Olympic Games Paris 2024.

The calm and composed captain led the Indian Men’s Hockey Team to a Bronze medal at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 with his stellar defence and his outstanding goal-scoring prowess from penalty corners. He scored 10 goals in eight games at the Olympics, with seven of those goals coming from penalty corners and the remaining three goals were 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.

With a short breather after the Olympic Games, Harmanpreet set his sights on the Asian Champions Trophy 2024 in Moqi, China. Leading the team by example again, he scored seven goals in as many games and was named Player of the Tournament as India defended their title in China.

At the end of the tournament, Harmanpreet stood at the pinnacle of the sport having amassed a staggering 205 goals in 226 matches for the country. A feat only achieved by legends of the sport, Major Dhyan Chand and Balbir Singh Sr.

“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 signed off with a plea.

Voting for the FIH Hockey Stats Awards is open till October 11.