Two Indians in every category as the FIH shortlists  Annual Awards nominees

S2H Team

Voting Link: VOTE! | FIH

After a sparkling show at the recently-concluded 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Indian players feature in each category shortlists, men and women, for the FIH Hockey Stars Awards 2020-21 announced by the world body on Monday.

Players, coaches, media and fans will be able to register votes for the nominees from August 23, 2021, to September 15, 2021. The results are expected to be announced in late September or October 2021.

Details of the online voting process are available on the FIH website fih.ch.

In the FIH Player of Year category, India’s drag-flickers / defenders Gurjit Kaur and Harmanpreet Singh have been nominated in the women’s and men’s sections respectively.

Savita Punia and PR Sreejesh are Indian picks for the FIH Goalkeeper of the Year awards while compatriots Sharmila Devi and Vivek Prasad vie for top honours in the FIH Rising Star of the Year award.

Dutchman Sjoerd Marijne who worked wonders with India’s women’s team which finished fourth in Tokyo is nominated for the FIH Coach of the Year award. The Indian men’s head coach Australian Graham Reid who guided the team to an Olympic bronze medal – the first podium finish in 41 years – has been duly nominated to the top coaching honour in the men’s category.

Hit by the Covid-19 pandemic,  the awards weren’t presented for 2020 through to the Tokyo event but the FIH have factored in performances of the aforesaid period.

In a deviation from the norm, the Hockey Stars Awards nominations and voting will now take place around August and September of each calendar year going forward, moving away from its traditional December-January launch period.

Votes from National Associations, represented by their respective national captains and coaches, will count for 50% of the overall result, while fans and players (25%) as well as media (25%) will make the other half of the votes.

VOTE! | FIH

List of Awards:

• FIH Player of the Year – Women & Men
• FIH Goalkeeper of the Year – Women & Men
• FIH Rising Star of the Year – Women & Men (Aged 21 or under on 31/12/2021)
• FIH Coach of the Year – Women & Men

The shortlisted individuals in each category:

FIH Player of the Year Awards

• Women: Agustina Albertarrio (ARG), Eva de Goede (NED), Agustina Gorzelany (ARG), Gurjit Kaur (IND), Frédérique Matla (NED), Maria Verschoor (NED)
• Men: Tim Brand (AUS), Arthur van Doren (BEL), Alexander Hendrickx (BEL), Harmanpreet Singh (IND), Jake Whetton (AUS), Aran Zalewski (AUS)

FIH Goalkeeper of the Year Awards

• Women: Maddie Hinch (GBR/ENG), Savita Punia (IND), Belén Succi (ARG)
• Men: Andrew Charter (AUS), Parattu Raveendran Sreejesh (IND), Vincent Vanasch (BEL).

FIH Rising Star of the Year Awards 

• Women: Fiona Crackles (GBR/ENG), Sharmila Devi (IND), Valentina Raposo (ARG)
• Men: Mustaphaa Cassiem (RSA), Sean Findlay (NZL), Vivek Prasad (IND)

FIH Coach of the Year Awards

• Women’s teams: Alyson Annan (AUS) – The Netherlands, Mark Hager (AUS) – Great Britain & England, Sjoerd Marijne (NED) – India
• Men’s teams: Colin Batch (AUS) – Australia, Shane McLeod (NZL) – Belgium, Graham Reid (AUS) – India

Following the conclusion of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, the nominee shortlist was agreed by an expert committee. This committee consisted of FIH Athletes Committee Chair Rogier Hofman, FIH Media Coordinator and journalist Sarah Juggins, Belgium Hockey High-Performance Director Adam Commens (chosen for the role by his peers to represent high performance and coaching staff), as well as FIH Executive Board Member Maureen Craig-Rousseau, a member of the Jury of Appeal at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

Voting:

• Votes from National Associations count for 50% of the overall result. Each NA will be granted two votes per gender, which will come from the national team captain and head coach.
• Votes from the media counts for 25% of the overall result.
• Votes from fans / players counts for 25% of the overall result.

Voting Link: VOTE! | FIH