Harmanpreet Singh won the men's Player of the Year award and Gurjit Kaur was recognised 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.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Wednesday
Led by Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra, India will seek to showcase its ascendency as a sporting power at the Asian Games, which opens formally on Saturday after an unprecedented one-year delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Indian men's hockey team's FIH Pro League title hopes went up in smoke after suffering a hard-fought 1-2 defeat against the Netherlands
Defender Gurinder Singh, midfielders Sumit and Manpreet who were part of the Junior World Cup-winning squad are slated to make their debut at the tournament.
A player in A category gets paid Rs 50 lakh over and above match fees and Rs 30 lakh and Rs 10 lakh are allotted for B and C category respectively.
A well-oiled Indian unit had raised the hopes of making the semi-finals for the first time since 1975 but the Dutch side broke a million hearts by coming from behind to knock out the hosts 2-1 in the last-eight clash.
India were able to defend a modest 146 by bowling out South Africa for 140 in 48 overs.
The Indian men's hockey team produced a lion hearted performance before going down 1-4 to leaders the Netherlands in the penalty shoot-out
India went through some anxious dying moments before eking out a close 5-4 win over hosts Malaysia and registered their second consecutive win of the eighth junior men's Asia Cup hockey tournament, in Kuantan, on Sunday.
Asian Games champions India came from a goal down to clinch an unimpressive 2-1 victory over hard-working Japan on the opening day of the 25th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament in Ipoh on Wednesday. Squandering a series of scoring chances created by defence-splitting crosses that sailed across the goalmouth, India managed to earn full points against the lowly-ranked rivals through goals from young drag flicker Harmanpreet Singh (24th minute) and captain Sardar Singh (32nd) after Kenji Kitazato (17th) gave Japan the lead. Earlier, Pakistan banked on two goals from Muhammad Arslan Qadir to open their campaign with a 3-1 victory over Canada in extremely humid conditions at the Sultan Azlan Shah Stadium. Qadir opened the account with a field goal in the 27th minute and converted a penalty corner a minute later to give Pakistan a two-goal lead. Canada then pulled one back through Richard Hildreth's flash strike, but Muhammad Arshad capitalised on a 52nd-minute penalty corner to seal Pakistan's victory.
India bounced back in style to beat title holders Australia 3-1 via a shoot-out after both the teams were locked 2-2 at the end of regulation time.
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Belgium won their first Olympic men's hockey title, beating Australia 3-2 in a penalty shoot-out after the final finished in a 1-1 draw, in Tokyo, on Thursday.
The Indian team are in Pool B along with Pakistan, Malaysia, Wales, England, and will begin their campaign on April 7 against Pakistan.
India defeated China 4-1 in their last pool match to mantain a clean slate going into the quarterfinals of the junior men's Asia Cup hockey tournament, in Kuantan, on Tuesday.
Indian men's hockey captain P R Sreejesh has been named as one of the candidates for 2016 Goalkeeper of the Year award of the FIH while Harmanpreet Singh made the grade as one of the 2016 Rising Men Star of the Year nominees. The nominees for the 2016 Hockey Stars Awards, the annual prizes recognising the best players, goalkeepers, rising stars, coaches and umpires in a given calendar year were announced during the Hockey Revolution Part 2 Conference of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) which is currently taking place in Dubai.
India's men's hockey team hammered lowly Indonesia 17-0 to open its title defence on a rousing note at the Asian Games, in Jakarta, on Monday.
India's silver medal winning performance in the 36th Hero Champions Trophy has earned the players and team officials a reward from Hockey India.
At a felicitation function, in Bhubaneswar, to honour the men's and women's Olympics hockey teams, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, an ardent supporter of the game in the country, announced that the state will continue to sponsor the national hockey teams for another 10 years.
Defending champions India were held to a goalless draw by Malaysia but managed to maintain their pole position in the points table in the Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament in Muscat.
Ellyse Perry claimed a record six-wicket haul before smashing an unbeaten 40 to steer Royal Challengers Bangalore to an emphatic seven-wicket win.
India conceded a surprise early goal but made a fine comeback by pumping in four quick goals to beat minnows Scotland 4-1 in their opening match of Hockey World League semi-finals in London.
Australia set up a showdown with Belgium in the men's hockey final at the Tokyo Olympics after handing 2016 Olympic bronze medallists Germany a 3-1 defeat on Tuesday.
The Australia series exposed India's frailties in the bowling department and the team has a lot of work to do before the ICC event.
India put up a valiant fight before defending champions Australia pipped them 3-2 in an absorbing encounter in the six-nation Champions Trophy hockey tournament, in Breda, the Netherlands, on Wednesday.
Mumbai Indians came up with a dominant performance with both bat and ball to cruise to an emphatic seven-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore.
After remaining unbeaten in their first three matches of the tour, World No.5 India were handed a lesson in hockey by the Kookaburras with Blake Govers (15th, 60th minutes) and Jeremy Hayward (20th, 59th) finding the net twice each.
The Malaysians handed India a heartbreaking 6-7 loss in sudden death after an exhausting shoot-off.
India are fretting over the fitness of their skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (shoulder) and Smriti Mandhana (finger) ahead of the opening game.
India bowled out Sri Lanka for 171 in 48.2 overs, and then chased down the target with 12 overs to spare.
It was a complete performance by the Indians who dominated their arch-rivals throughout the match to post a facile win and zoom to the top of Pool B ahead of The Netherlands.
Hockey India president Dilip Tirkey said India can win a World Cup medal this time after a hiatus of 48 years but for that the home side needs to make use of penalty corners.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
The Indian team would be desperate to move on from the Mankading incident and focus on the Asia Cup.
For Mumbai, they stretched their unbeaten run to 11 matches as they now have 29 points from 12 matches.
Esports to breakdancing, Hangzhou will set the trend for future of sport
Mandhana (91 off 99 balls) literally drove and pulled her way before missing out on a deserving sixth WODI hundred by nine runs.
Dabang Mumbai avenged their bitter loss to Kalinga Lancers in their home game with a sensational 5-2 win in Bhubaneswar that ensured they earned top spot on the points table again.
The list of core probables of the senior men's hockey team has been pruned down to 33 from 48 after a three-day selection trials held at the SAI Centre, Bangalore from July 25-27.
