Hockey India on Wednesday congratulated all the award winners of the FIH Hockey Stars Awards which was announced on Wednesday by the International Hockey Federation (FIH). The voting-based annual awards had six Indian hockey players and two coaches from both the Indian hockey teams (Men and Women) nominated for various categories. This is the first time that all nominees from India have won the prestigious awards in their respective categories.
India's dragflick sensation Harmanpreet Singh was crowned the 'FIH Player of the Year' in the men's category. He was the top scorer in India's Bronze medal-winning performance at the Tokyo Olympic Games. Meanwhile, Indian women's hockey team dragflicker Gurjit Kaur won the 'FIH Player of The Year' in the women's category.
India's famed goalkeeper PR Sreejesh won the 'Goalkeeper of the Year' in the men's category. Sreejesh came up with a career-best performance at the Olympic Games 2020 and was the cynosure of Indian defence. Indian women team custodian Savita, on the other hand, won the 'Goalkeeper of the Year' in the women's category. Savita, who was also the joint-vice captain for the Indian women's hockey team at the Olympic Games 2020, was outstanding in guarding India's post and played an instrumental role in the team finishing fourth in the Tokyo Olympic Games.
In the FIH Rising Star of the Year for men, Vivek Sagar Prasad won the award for the second consecutive time. In the FIH Rising Star of the year for women, Sharmila Devi won the award with maximum votes ahead of Great Britain's Fiona Crackles and Argentina's Valentina Raposo.
Indian men's hockey chief coach Graham Reid was awarded the FIH Coach of the Year. He was nominated along with Australia's Colin Batch and Belgium's Shane McLeod. Former Indian women's hockey chief coach Sjoerd Marijne too was awarded the 'FIH Coach of the Year' in the women's team category.
Congratulating the award winners, Hockey India President Gyanendro Ningombam said, "This is a great moment for Indian hockey as all our Indian nominees for the FIH Stars Awards have been announced winners. After the historic performances in Tokyo by both Indian men and women's hockey teams, the support from Indian fans from across the globe has been overwhelming. We thank everyone who supported the nominees by voting for them. This is a big moment for us and these awards will definitely inspire future generations to take up the sport professionally. On behalf of Hockey India, I congratulate all the award winners and wish them success in their future endeavours."
( With inputs from ANI )
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