Hockey
Harmanpreet Singh, PR Sreejesh nominated for FIH hockey awards
Harmanpreet and Sreejesh played pivotal roles in India's second successive Olympic medal-winning campaign at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The Indian men's team captain Harmanpreet Singh was on Tuesday nominated for the Player of the Year award by the International Hockey Federation (FIH), while the legendary PR Sreejesh will be in contention for the Goalkeeper of the Year award.
The FIH announced the shortlisted candidates for awards across all categories.
Harmanpreet and Sreejesh played pivotal roles in India's second successive Olympic medal-winning campaign at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
India followed their Tokyo 2021 bronze with another third-place finish in Paris 2024.
Harmanpreet, the penalty corner specialist, scored ten goals in the Paris Olympics.
The Indian player will face competition from Thierry Brinkman (Netherlands), Joep de Mol (Netherlands), Hannes Müller (Germany), and Zach Wallace (England) for the award.
Sreejesh, known as the wall of India, announced his retirement from hockey after India beat Spain in the bronze medal playoff in Paris.
Throughout the tournament, Sreejesh stood firm under the bar and made brilliant saves. One of his most notable performances came against Great Britain when India were reduced to 10 men in the second quarter of the quarterfinal.
India defeated Great Britain 4-2 in the penalty shootout to reach the semifinal and later on, defeated Spain 2-1 to win the bronze medal contest.
Sreejesh will have competition from Pirmin Blaak (Netherlands), Luis Calzado (Spain), Jean-Paul Danneberg (GER), and Tomas Santiago (Argentina) for the Goalkeeper of the Year award.
The winners will be chosen based on votes. The voting will open till October 11 for national associations (represented by their respective national teams’ captains and coaches), fans, players, coaches, officials and media.
"The votes of the Expert Panel count for 40 per cent of the overall result. Those from National Associations count for a further 20 per cent. The fans and other players (20 per cent) as well as the media (20 per cent) will make the remaining 40 per cent,” the FIH said in a press release.
"The expert panel was provided access to match data from all international matches held in 2024, including Test matches, the FIH hockey Pro League, FIH Hockey Nations Cups, FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers and the Olympic Games Paris 2024 before establishing the final list of nominees."
The expert panel consists of Janne Muller-Wieland (Germany) and Simon Mason (England) from Europe, Tahir Zaman (Pakistan) and Ms Deepika (India) from Asia, Soledad Iparraguirre (Argentina) and Craig Parnham (USA) from Pan America, Sarah Bennett (Zimbabwe) and Ahmed Youssef (Egypt) from Africa and Amber Church (New Zealand) and Adam Webster (Australia) from Oceania.
Nominees for FIH Hockey Stars Awards:
Women: Gu Bingfeng (China), Yibbi Jansen (Netherlands), Nike Lorenz (Germany), Stephanie Vanden Borre (Belgium), Xan de Waard (Netherlands)
Men: Thierry Brinkman (Netherlands), Joep de Mol (Netherlands), Hannes Müller (Germany), Harmanpreet Singh (India), Zach Wallace (England).
Goalkeeper of the Year Award:
Women: Cristina Cosentino (Argentina), Aisling D’Hooghe (Belgium), Nathalie Kubalski (Germany), Anne Veenendaal (Netherlands), Ye Jiao (China).
Men: Pirmin Blaak (Netherlands), Luis Calzado (Spain), Jean-Paul Danneberg (GER), Tomas Santiago (Argentina), PR Sreejesh (India).
Rising Star of the Year Award:
Women: Claire Colwill (Australia), Zoe Díaz (Argentina), Tan Jinzhuang (China), Emily White (Belgium), Linnea Weidemann (Germany).
Men: Bautista Capurro (Argentina), Bruno Font (Spain), Sufyan Khan (Pakistan), Michel Struthoff (Germany), Arno Van Dessel (Belgium).
