Ex-Indian Hockey player and Olympic medalist who has served his country for almost 60 years; Harbinder Singh was honoured with the 2019 Hockey Indian Major Dhyan Chand lifetime award in its 3rd edition of the Annual Hockey India awards held back in New Delhi, India on Sunday, March  8th 2020.

The veteran who made his debut for India Men’s Hockey team during his teenage years(18) back in 1961 was an integral part of the Olympic medal-winning team at Tokyo in 1964; Olympic Bronze medal-winning team at Mexico in 1968 and Olympic Bronze medal-winning team in Munich, Germany in 1972.

After his retirement from the game, he has continued to play a consistent role in Hockey off the field by filling various positions which includes; the Chairman Hockey Indian Masters Committee, Member of Hockey India Selection Committee, Member of Hockey India High performance and Development Committee, Member of Hockey India Disciplinary Committee and Member of Hockey India Ethics Committee.

Singh expressed his delightment after receiving the award saying he was highly honoured to receive the award. ” i have dedicated my whole life to this game [Hockey], and it feels great for me to be recognised by the hockey India and all my colleagues in the game”.

“I will make sure I continue to give my all and help to develop hockey even more in India. Such a prestigious award like Major Dhyan Chand’s name is an excellent source of inspiration for me”.

Singh added and said he was extremely impressed with the performance of the  India Women and Men’s team in 2019.

” Seeing the secure team qualifications for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics gave me much joy and was very brilliant.” They have shown their qualities against top teams in the past, and i wish to see them give another excellent performance at the Olympics later this year.” He said.

Written by: Olumide Aknnifesi