PANAJI: Indian women’s hockey team’s young forward Sharmila Devi and men’s team’s midfielder Vivek Sagar Prasad, have been nominated for FIH Rising Star of the Year Award 2020-21; says a press release by Hockey India.
The 19-year-old Sharmila Devi put in incredible efforts at Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where the Indian women’s team finished a creditable fourth.
Speaking about being nominated for the prestigious award, Sharmila said: “It’s a great honour to be nominated for the FIH Women’s Rising Star of the Year Award 2020-2021. It feels fantastic when your efforts and performances are recognised. I have always played to help my team win and we have always believed in collective efforts, therefore this nomination is a testament to the way the entire team has played in the last year and especially at the Tokyo Games.”
Sharmila added that the national side was disappointed after missing out on a Bronze Medal, however, the team will focus on the learnings from the Tokyo Games.
“We were very close to winning a medal, but we couldn’t do so. It was heartbreaking for us to not close out the game against Great Britain, however, we will focus on the learnings from the tournament in the upcoming days. We have gained a lot of confidence from the way we took on the top teams in the world. We just need to fine-tune a few things and then we will certainly perform well regularly in the biggest of tournaments,” said the 19-year-old.
Sharmila also congratulated her team-mates defender Gurjit Kaur and goalkeeper Savita for being nominated for the FIH Women’s Player of the Year Award and FIH Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year Award respectively.
Indian men’s team midfielder Vivek Sagar Prasad, however, makes the shortlist for the second time for the prestigious honour.
Having won the FIH Rising Star of the Year Award last year and being nominated yet again after a stupendous performance in Tokyo Olympics, Vivek expressed: “I never imagined this would happen again. It’s a surreal feeling to have been nominated for the second time in the same category (FIH Rising Star of the Year Awards). I got to know this late in the night when I saw texts from my friends congratulating me for this. To be honest, it’s really overwhelming”.
The 21-year-old midfielder added: “However, it’s the result of teamwork and the support of senior players. Since my debut, senior players have been the biggest source of my motivation. They have helped me play my natural game without any fear and pressure, and that is the biggest reason behind why I could win the 2019 FIH Rising Star of the Year Award and also stand a chance to win the accolade for the second time.”
