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Hockey India sweeps all top honours in FIH annual awards; Belgium lashes out at the voting system

Lausanne: Hockey India swept all top honours in all the categories in the International Hockey Federation’s (FIH) annual awards on Wednesday, based on a system of voting. Men’s Olympic champions Belgium harshly criticised and questioned the process as none of their Tokyo Games champions managed to win an award.

 

Five Indian players and the head coaches of both the men’s and women’s teams in Tokyo claimed the top awards, across different categories after securing the maximum votes. Harmanpreet Singh won the men’s ‘Player of the Year’ award and Gurjit Kaur was bestowed as the best player in the women’s section. Veteran P R Sreejesh and Savita Punia won the best goalkeeper awards in the men’s and women’s section, while young striker Sharmila Devi (women) and Vivek Sagar Prasad (men) were adjudged best rising stars. The drag-click duo of Harmanpreet and Gurjit were the top-scorers in their respective team’s stellar run at the Games.

Men’s team coach Graham Reid and women’s coach Sjoerd Marijne were also voted the best in the list. While Reid is still with the team, Marijne’s tenure ended after the Tokyo Games. The men’s hockey team had won a bronze, its first in 41 years, in the Tokyo Olympics, while the women’s side had finished at fourth place in the tournament.

 

The Belgian team sharply criticised at the announcement of the winners and slammed the system as a ‘failure’. ‘Hockey Belgium is very disappointed with the outcome of @FIH_Hockey Star Awards. A gold winning team with multiple nominees in all categories but doesn’t win a single award demonstrates failure of the voting system. We will work with FIH to ensure a fairer system in the future,’ they tweeted.

https://twitter.com/hockeybe/status/1445670741903437827

 

Votes from National Associations, represented by the national captains and coaches accounts for 50 per cent of the overall result, while fans and players (25 per cent) as well as media (25 per cent) made the other half of the votes. Only 19 associations from the 42-strong European members casted their votes, compared to 29 out of 33 in Asia.

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