Harmanpreet, Sreejesh bag top honours at FIH Star Awards
The Hindu
Harmanpreet Singh and PR Sreejesh win FIH Player and Goalkeeper of the Year awards in 2024.
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 FIH Statutory Congress in Oman on November 9.
Harmanpreet beat the likes of Netherlands duo of Joep de Mol of Netherlands and Thierry Brinkman, Hannes Muller of Germany and Zach Wallace of England to bag the top award.
Indian captain Harmanpreet Singh led the scoring charts at the Paris Olympics with 10 goals, including goals in the quarterfinal, semi-final 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.
Double Olympic medallist Sreejesh, who quit the game after the Paris Olympics, prevailed over Netherlands' Pirmin Blaak, Luis Calzado of Spain, Jean-Paul Danneberg of Germany and Argentina's Tomas Santiago to win the top prize in goalkeepers category.
Harmanpreet was also a crucial cog in the Indian team that had broken their 41-year podium drought at the Tokyo Olympics with a bronze medal. He has previously won the FIH Player of the Year award on two occasions in 2020-21 and 2021-22 but the third one might just be the most precious, as it came after he led his country to an Olympic medal — a bronze in Paris — in his first attempt, following his appointment as captain in 2023.
"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," Harmanpreet said.
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