Times of India: Mahindra Scorpio TOISA: Harmanpreet Singh, Savita Punia win top hockey awards
MUMBAI: Two pillars of the Indian men’s and women’s hockey teams which were crowned Asian champions last year, Harmanpreet Singh and Savita Punia, were on Monday adjudged joint Hockey Player of the Year at the third Mahindra Scorpio Times of India Sports Awards (TOISA) powered by All-Out.
Harmanpreet was the men’s team’s leading scorer in 2017 with 18 goals, including starring roles in the Asia Cup title run and India’s bronze medal finish at the Hockey World League final in Bhubaneshwar. Savita, goalkeeper for the women’s team, was exceptional during the Women’s Asia Cup where she was named Goalkeeper of the Tournament.
The pair was nominated in a very tough pool which featured the two Asia Cup-winning captains in Manpreet Singh and Rani Rampal, the high-scoring Gurjit Kaur and immensely reliable Gurjant Singh.
Harmanpreet, 22, was India’s top scorer at the Asia Cup with seven, a key force in the team clinching the trophy. During the HWL Final quarters, he scored India’s second goal doing regular time and then the winning shot during penalty shootouts as World No 3 Belgium were knocked out. In the bronze-medal game, he scored a goal as India beat Germany 2-1. Other highlight of his stellar 2017 were all three goals of India’s 3-0 win over New Zealand during the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, a brace to help beat Belgium 3-2 during the Three Nations Invitational Tournament in Dusseldorf, and two goals during India’s 4-3 win against Austria during the men’s team’s tour of Europe.
Savita, 27, was a massive factor in the women’s team lifting the Asia Cup for the first time since 2004. She allowed just five goals all tournament – keeping clean sheets against Singapore and Malaysia – and in the final pulled off a brilliant save with the scores locked at 4-4 to help India beat China and secure passage to the 2018 World Cup.
During the TOISA jury meet, the six-member panel comprising Abhinav Bindra, Bhaichung Bhutia, Devendra Jhajharia, Reeth Abraham and Gautam Gambhir along with the Chief Editor of Times Internet Ltd, Rajesh Kalra, deliberated at length on the success of each of the nominees in hockey. The names of Savita and Gurjit, who was the women’s team’s leading goal-scorer last year with 19, were the most discussed; in the end, it was Savita’s brilliance during the Asia Cup, the only title the team won in 2017, that swung the votes her way.
“In a year of inconsistency and disappointments, from a team perspective, the men’s and team’s wins in the Asia Cup were what had to be valued the most, and in that regards Savita was just too good,” said Kalra, also a member of the PM’s task force on the preparations for the next three Olympics. “Even now, just recalling Savita’s saves during the penalty shoot-outs in the final gives you goosebumps. She really was the difference in the final, and the way each of her team-mates as well as the coach Harendra Singh spoke of her dependability really underlines how critical she was in India winning the Asia Cup.”
Abraham, a decorated athlete who was the first Indian mother to break a national record and the South Asian Games record, said: “Definitely you have to look at the top performers in the Asia Cup win, which was the only bright spark in an otherwise poor year for the Indian team in terms of results. Gurjit was a very consistent scorer all year, but when you focus on the biggest tournament and biggest match of the year, it was Savita who stood out.”