King of the hockey realm - Singh
The year 2012 has seen many sports events unfold. One of the most important being the Summer Olympics held in London. Some careers were made with as much as ease as the others were dispelled. Saina NehwaL, Mary Kom and Vijay Kumar were among the ones who did the Country good bringing home medals as a token of their impressive performances. India is proud of all the athletes that she sent forth as her ambassadors at the Olympics.
Among her champions were a group of men that played under the category of field hockey; and their captain Sardara Singh or commonly referred to as Sardar Singh. Though the hockey team failed to win a medal, they nevertheless impressed with their scrappy performance on field. Much was expected from the team that took home the gold at the 2012 Summer Olympics Qualifiers. Maybe, that is why when the hockey team returned home without anything to show for all the training, they were met with disapproving bearings and silent reassurances.
But all hope was not lost; the year was still young and soon enough they made an amazing comeback the following month at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup championships where they picked up a bronze in the competition. Following this, Singh was shortlisted for FIH player of the year award. Though he lost out the prestigious title to Germany's Moritz Fuerste, the nomination did wonders for Sardar Singh profile. Under his spitfire leadership, India came close to winning the Champions Trophy Medal. Sardar Singh statistics were no laughing matter to begin with.
He became the captain of India at a very young age and it was under his very capable captaincy that India won the 2009 Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament, where he also doubled as a midfielder. He was termed as the ‘Player of the Tournament’ in the 2010 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, where India again won the gold. In 2012, he was part of the team that took home the bronze medal at the 2012 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup and as a bonus was the recipient of the ‘Best player of the tournament’ award. He has also participated in the Four Nations Hockey Tournament held at Germany and Lahore and managed to procured silver and gold medal respectively.
Like his colleague Sandeep Singh, he too is an ace drag flicker. For all his contributions to the hockey field, Singh was given the prestigious sports token of appreciation- the Arjuna Award.
