Harmanpreet Singh, PR Sreejesh named best in world

Indian men’s hockey team captain Harmanpreet Singh and the legendary PR Sreejesh have won the FIH Player of the Year and Goalkeeper of the Year awards for the year 2024. Both Harmanpreet and Sreejesh received the recognition during the 49th...

PTI

Lausanne, Updated At : 10:46 AM Nov 10, 2024 IST

Harmanpreet Singh and PR Sreejesh were named the FIH Player of the Year and Goalkeeper of the Year, respectively. HI

Harmanpreet beat the Netherlands duo of Joep de Mol and Thierry Brinkman, Germany’s Hannes Muller and England’s Zach Wallace to bag the top award.

I would like to mention my teammates, none of this would have been possible without you all. Harmanpreet Singh

Harmanpreet led the scoring charts at the Paris Olympics with 10 goals, including goals in India’s quarterfinal, semifinal 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 previously won the FIH Player of the Year award on two occasions in 2020-21 and 2021-22.

“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 special feeling. I would like to mention my teammates, none of this would have been possible without you all,” Harmanpreet said. “My wife and daughter are here today and receiving this award in front of them means the world to me,” he added.

Double Olympics medallist Sreejesh, who quit the game after the Paris Olympics, prevailed over Netherlands’ Pirmin Blaak, Spain’s Luis Calzado, Germany’s Jean-Paul Danneberg and Argentina’s Tomas Santiago to win the top prize among the men’s goalkeepers. Sreejesh also won his third FIH Goalkeeper of the Year award, having previously won in 2020-21 and 2021-22. “Thank you for this last honour of my playing career. This award completely belongs to my team,” Sreejesh said.

The other winners were Yibbi Jansen of Netherlands (Women’s Player of the Year), Ye Jiao of China (Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year), Pakistan’s Sufyan Khan (Men’s Rising Star of the Year), Zoe Diaz of Argentina (Women’s Rising Star of the Year), Jeroen Delmee of Netherlands (Men’s Coach of the Year) and Alyson Annan (Women’s Coach of the Year).