FIH Awards: Harmanpreet Singh wins best men’s player award, PR Sreejesh best goalkeeper

MUSCAT: India’s Harmanpreet Singh was crowned as Men’s Player Of The Year and his former compatriot P R Sreejesh was named Men’s Goalkeeper Of The Year, announced the International Hockey Federation (FIH) on Friday.

Following a vote by an expert panel, National Associations, represented by their respective national teams’ captains and coaches, fans and media, Yibbi Jansen (Netherlands) and Harmanpreet were awarded the FIH Players of the Year 2024 during the gala night of the 49th FIH Statutory Congress in Oman.

While Ye Jiao of China and PR Sreejesh of India won the FIH Goalkeepers of the Year awards, the awards for FIH Rising Stars went to Zoe Diaz of Argentina and Sufyan Khan of Pakistan.

‘Credit goes to my team’

India’s captain and the FIH Hockey Player of the Year 2023-24, Harmanpreet Singh, shares his thoughts after winning the FIH Hockey Player Of The Year for the third time.@TheHockeyIndia @13harmanpreet @asia_hockey #hockey #hockeystarsawards pic.twitter.com/PsMRIqAYS6

— International Hockey Federation (@FIH_Hockey) November 9, 2024

For the second year in a row, China women’s head coach Alyson Annan (Australia) has been awarded the FIH Coach of the Year award in the women’s category, while Jeroen Delmee (Netherlands) won the FIH Coach of the Year award in the men’s category.

Sarah Wilson of Scotland and Steve Rogers of Australia won the FIH Umpire of the Year award in the women’s and men’s categories respectively.

Yibbi Jansen starred at the Paris 2024 Olympics where she led the Netherlands to yet another gold medal, scoring 9 goals along the way including the leveller in the gold medal match, with less than 10 minutes to go in the match, to get her team back in the contest and eventually to the top step of the podium.

At just 24, Jansen is already one of the most accomplished players in hockey and already leads the list of all-time top goal scorers in the FIH Hockey Pro League.

Asked about the pivotal moment in the gold medal match at Paris 2024, Yibbi Jansen said, “First off, thank you for having me here and for this award. It has been great to meet everyone who works behind the scenes to make all the hockey events possible worldwide. The Olympic Gold was always the biggest dream of my life and this summer that dream came true. Thank you to my teammates who all worked so hard for us to make this dream a reality. With 10 minutes left in the game and trailing, it was nervous moments. But we have been working so hard for so long and we are all really close to each other, on and off the field, so we always had faith in each other that we could overturn it and win. So thanks to them for everything!”

In the men’s category, Harmanpreet Singh was the standout player amongst the men’s nominees, receiving the most votes across all categories of voters.

Much like Yibbi Jansen in the women’s competition, the Indian captain led the scoring charts at the Paris 2024 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.

Harmanpreet was also a crucial cog in the Indian team that had broken their 41-year podium drought at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. He has previously won the FIH Player of the Year award on two occasions in 2020-21 and 2021-22.

Speaking about the celebrations back home after he captained his side to a second consecutive medal at the Olympics, Harmanpreet Singh said, “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. Special thanks to Hockey India as well for always giving us every opportunity to succeed at all levels. My wife and daughter are here today and receiving this award in front of them means the world to me. So thank you to everyone who made that possible!”

PR Sreejesh was a part of the Paris Olympics bronze medal-winning team. He brought an end to his stellar career at the Paris 2024 Olympics, by adding a second Olympic medal to his trophy cabinet and now he gets to add a third FIH Goalkeeper of the Year award as well, having previously won the award in 2020-21 and 2021-22.

Sreejesh bid adieu to hockey at the highest level, putting together an incredible Olympic campaign, that included a mammoth performance in the quarterfinal win for India over Great Britain, where they played most of the match with 10 players.

Thanking those who have helped him along his wonderful career, PR Srejeesh said, “I am so happy today. Thank you for this last playing honour of my playing career. As most people know, Paris 2024 was the last tournament I played for my country and I just want to thank Hockey India for all the support and guidance offered over all the years I have played the sport. This award completely belongs to my team, the defence who made sure most attacks never got to me, and the midfielders and forwards who covered up my mistakes by scoring more goals than I conceded.” (ANI)