Harmanpreet Singh defends Player of the Year award

New Delhi, October 7

India defender Harmanpreet Singh was today named the FIH Player of the Year in the men’s category for the second successive time.

The 26-year-old became just the third player to win the award twice in a row, joining Teun De Nooijer of the Netherlands and Arthur van Doren of Belgium. Jamie Dwyer of Australia won it three times in a row.

“Harmanpreet Singh is a bona fide modern-day hockey superstar. He is a terrific defender with a knack for being at the right place at the right time to break down the opponent’s offence,” FIH said in a statement. “He has great dribbling skills to carry the ball up the field from defence. And he scores goals, goals and more goals! To add to that impressive resume, he has now been voted the FIH Player of the Year for the second year running.”

Singh, whose total tally stood at 29.4 points, was followed by the Netherlands captain Thierry Brinkman with 23.6 points and Belgium striker Tom Boon with 23.4 points. The India vice-captain scored 18 goals from 16 games, which includes two hat-tricks, in the Pro League 2021-22 season. He now holds the record for the most goals scored by any player in a single season of the Pro League.

He was also terrific at the Asian Champions Trophy last year in Dhaka, in which he scored eight goals in six games as India finished on the podium.

In the women’s category, Felice Albers of the Netherlands was named the FIH Player of the Year. The 22-year-old became the youngest winner since Germany’s Natascha Keller (1999) and the second-youngest since the inception of the awards in 1998. Albers’ tally stood at 29.1 points as she edged Argentina’s Maria Granatto (26.9 points) in one of the closest races for the award. Argentina’s Agustina Gorzelany finished third with 16.4 points.