NEW DELHI: The Hockey India 5th Annual Awards 2022 took place in the capital city on Friday which saw the national federation celebrate India’s best hockey stars, officials and former greats of the sport.
Gurbux Singh won the Major Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award 2022, while Hardik Singh and Savita won the Balbir Singh Sr. Award for Player of The Year 2022 awards in Men and Women categories, respectively.
This year, at the Hockey India 5th Annual Awards 2022, the total prize money was in excess of Rs 2.7 crore.
The awards ceremony started with the felicitation of awardees from 2021 & 2022.
For 2021, Indian men’s hockey team legend Amit Singh Bakshi, who was part of the Indian team that won the Gold medal at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, received the Major Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award for the year 2021. Harmanpreet Singh and Savita won the Player of The Year 2021 awards in the Men’s and Women’s categories, respectively.
For the awards for 2022, these started with Milestone Awards given to athletes who achieved important milestones in their career in the past year. These included awards given to Manpreet Singh and Rani for earning 300 International Caps and 250 international caps, respectively. While Manpreet was awarded a cash prize of Rs 3 lakh and a trophy, Rani won a cash prize of Rs 2.5 lakh along with a trophy.
Also, Navjot Kaur and Mandeep Singh were each awarded Rs 2.00 lakh with a trophy for earning 200 international caps, while Neha, Navneet Kaur, and Lalremsiami were also presented with Rs 1 lakh each with a trophy for earning 100 international caps.
Harmanpreet Singh won two milestone awards – as he was presented with Rs 1.5 lakh along with a trophy for earning 150 international caps and also a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh with a trophy for scoring 100 international goals. Karthi Selvam also received a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh for scoring a goal on debut while umpire Javed Shaikh also was awarded a cash prize of Rs 1.5 lakh for officiating in his 150th senior international match.
The second set of awards for 2022 was given in recognition of the individual achievements of the players with PR Sreejesh and Savita earning Rs 5 lakh each for winning the FIH Goalkeeper of the Year 2021-22 in men’s and women’s categories, respectively. Indian women team coach Janneke Schopman won Rs 5 lakh for being named the FIH Coach of the Year 2021-22 Women’s categories, while Mumtaz Khan also earned Rs 5 lakh for winning the FIH Women’s Rising Star of the Year 2021-22. Meanwhile, the Indian men’s hockey team captain Harmanpreet Singh was awarded Rs 10 lakh for being named the FIH Men’s Player of the Year 2021-22.
Harmanpreet Singh was also awarded Rs 1 lakh for being the top goal-scorer at the FIH Men’s Hockey Pro League 2021-22, while Savita was presented with additional prize money of Rs 1 lakh for being the best goalkeeper of the FIH Hockey Women’s Nations Cup Spain 2022. Sharda Nand Tiwari was also honoured with a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh for being the top goal scorer of the Sultan of Johor Cup 2022.
Meanwhile, the Indian women’s hockey team that won the Gold Medal at the FIH Women’s Nations Cup Spain 2022 was also felicitated during the ceremony with each player winning Rs 2 lakh while the coaching staff was presented with Rs 1 lakh each. Also, the Indian junior men’s hockey team that won the Gold medal at the Sultan of Johor Cup 2022 was also felicitated with each player earning Rs 2 lakh each and each member of the coaching staff earning Rs 1 lakh each.
Hockey India showed their appreciation to the Odisha state government for the successful completion of the FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023 Bhubaneswar-Rourkela this year.
Umpires and technical officials were also recognised at the ceremony for their contribution to the sport. The following were the winners:
1) Hockey India President Award for Umpire/Umpire Manager 2022 was presented to Gurinder Singh Sangha
2) Hockey India President Award for Technical Official 2022 was presented to Mohd. Mogul Muneer
Both the winners were presented with Rs 2.5 lakh along with a trophy.
Hockey Ace Foundation was also presented with the honour of the Hockey India President Award for Outstanding Achievement 2022, earning prize money of Rs 5 lakh along with a trophy.
Hockey Ace Foundation – a joint venture between Tata Steel Limited and Tata Trusts, has been successfully running two hockey academies – the Naval Tata Hockey Academy in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand and the Odisha Naval Tata Hockey High-Performance Centre in Bhubaneswar, Odisha which is established with the help of the Govt. of Odisha.
Meanwhile, the winners of other annual awards also received a tremendous response from the gathering. The awardees were:
1) Jaman Lal Sharma Award for Invaluable Contribution 2022 was presented to Pritam Siwach
2) Baljit Singh Award for Goalkeeper of the Year 2022 to Krishan B Pathak
3) Pargat Singh Award for Defender of the Year 2022 to Harmanpreet Singh
4) Ajit Pal Singh Award for Midfielder of the Year 2022 to Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam
5) Dhanraj Pillay Award for Forward of the Year 2022 to Vandana Katariya
Each of the above categories of awards also carried a prize of Rs 5 lakh along with a trophy.
Apart from this, the following awards were also presented:
1) Asunta Lakra Award for Upcoming Player of the Year 2022 (Women – Under 21) was presented to Mumtaz Khan
2) Jugraj Singh Award for Upcoming Player of the Year 2022 (Men – Under 21) was presented to Uttam Singh
Both the above two players received a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh each along with a trophy.
The day came to a finish with the presentation of the most eagerly-awaited Balbir Singh Sr. Award for Player of the Year 2022 Awards for Men and Women, and the Major Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award.
Hardik Singh and Savita received a standing ovation as they were announced as the winners of the Player of the Year 2022 Awards for Men and Women, respectively. The winners of the players’ awards for 2022 received a trophy along with a cash prize of Rs 25 lakh each.
The final award for the day, the Major Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award 2022, carrying a cash prize of Rs 30 lakh and a trophy, was presented to Gurbux Singh for his outstanding contribution to the sport of hockey.
