LAUSANNE: India men's hockey team defender and vice-captain Harmanpreet Singh has been voted the FIH Player of the Year for the second year running.
The 26-year-old, who has a knack for being at the right place at the right time, got the award for his goal-scoring ability, which has gone up a level this past year as multiple teams have found his penalty-corner drag flicks impossible to deal with.
His scoring record includes an incredible 18 goals from 16 games, with two hat-tricks, in the Pro League 2021/22. With those 18 goals, he ended the season as the top scorer for India and now holds the record for most goals scored by a player in a single season of the Pro League.
Harmanpreet was also in terrific form at the Asian Champions Trophy Dhaka 2021, where he scored eight goals in six games, scoring in every single game as India finished on the podium. His performances were also crucial to the Indian team as it won silver at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
Harmanpreet now becomes just the fourth player to win the Player of the Year award (men's category) in consecutive years, joining an elite list that includes Teun De Nooijer (Netherlands), Jamie Dwyer (Australia) and Arthur van Doren (Belgium).
Harmanpreet's total points tally stood at 29.4 points, followed by Thierry Brinkmann with 23.6 points and Tom Boon with 23.4 points.
Felice Albers of Netherlands has been named the FIH Players of the Year 2021/22 in the women's category. IANS
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