new delhi,oct 6
The bronze medal performance by the hockey men’s team after 41 years and fourth place show by the women’s team helped Indian players and coaches to dominate the FIH Hockey Stars Awards 2020-21 for the first time.Gurjit Kaur (best player, women), Harmanpreet Singh (best player, men), Savita (best goalkeeper, women), PR Sreejesh (best goalkeeper, men), Sharmila Devi (best rising star, women) and Vivek Prasad (best rising star, men) as well as both the women’s and men’s coaches, Sjoerd Marijne (the Netherlands) and Graham Reid (Australia), polled the highest number of votes in their respective categories.Harmanpreet was the top scorer in India’s bronze medal-winning performance at the Tokyo Olympic Games. He was nominated for the award along with Belgium’s Arthur Van Doren and Alexander Hendrickx as well as Australia’s Jake Whetton, Tim Brand and Aran Zalewski.Sreejesh came up with a career-best performance at the Olympic Games 2020 and was the cynosure of Indian defence. The other nominees in this category were Belgium’s Vincent Vanasch and Australia’s Andrew Charter.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.Vivek won the award for the second consecutive time. He was nominated along with South Africa’s Mustaphaa Cassiem and Australia’s Sean Findlay.Apart from votes from the fans, 79 national federations – represented by their respective national captains and coaches – voted (Africa: 11 out of 25 member federations; Asia: 29 out of 33; Europe: 19 out of 42; Oceania: 3 out of 8; Pan America: 17 out of 30).Belgium (men) and the Netherlands (women), who were not only crowned Olympic champions won the FIH Hockey Pro League, as well as the Great Britain women’s team, were also given high recognition by the voting groups.
