New Delhi: Indian men’s hockey team captain Harmanpreet Singh on Friday was announced as the Men’s FIH Player of the Year award winner for his exceptional performance in 2024. PR Sreejesh was awarded the Men’s FIH Goalkeeper of the Year award on Friday during the gala night of the 49th FIH Statutory Congress in Oman.
Harmanpreet played a vital role in helping India to back-to-back podium finishes at the Olympics. He was the leading goal-scorer in the men’s competition with 10 strikes as India claimed bronze medal in the French capital. The ace Indian drag-flicker struck brace in India’s 2-1 win over Spain in the bronze medal playoff match.
The 28-year-old player from Punjab has won his third FIH Player of the Year Award, having won previously in 2020-21 and 2021-22. However, this time it was the first since he became the captain of the hockey team in 2023. Speaking on being bestowed with the prestigious award for the third time, 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!”
PR Sreejesh, who retired after the conclusion of the Paris Olympics, also bagged his third FIH Goalkeeper of the Year Award. Just like his captain, the veteran Indian goalkeeper won the award in 2020-21 and 2021-22.
“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,” Sreejesh said.
“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,” the 36-year-old added.
Netherlands’ Yibbi Jansen was Women’s FIH Player of the Year award winner for being the integral part of her team in their Paris Olympics gold medal triumph. She scored nine goals in the prestigious event, including an equaliser in the gold medal match against China with just nine minutes left on the clock, enforcing the game to a penalty shootout. The Dutch women prevailed 3-1 in the shootout to win their fifth gold medal in the Summer Games.
China’s Ye Jiao won the Women’s FIH Goalkeeper of the Year award. All the awards are decided by voting combination of fans, media, national associations (represented by the respective national teams’ captains and coaches) and an expert panel.
Argentina’s Zoe Diaz and Pakistan’s Sufyan Khan emerged as the FIH Rising Star of the year in women and men categories, respectively.
How Harmanpreet and Sreejesh got votes to win FIH awards
The fans, media and national association each have 20% vote share while the remaining 40% is with the expert panel. Harmanpreet got 20% votes from the expert panel followed by national association (15.27%), media (15%) and fans (13.57%) to accumulate 63.84%.
Sreejesh also received the major vote share from expert panel (22.22%) and national association (15.73 %). The Kerala-based athlete received 11.67% votes from the fans and 12.60% votes from the media. His total vote share was 62.22%.
Harmanpreet Singh played a vital role in helping India to back-to-back podium finishes at the Olympics. He was the leading goal-scorer in the men’s competition with 10 strikes as India claimed bronze medal in the French capital. Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
