The Indian Men’s Junior hockey team clinched the Men’s Asia Cup title in Malaysia on Sunday, after beating arch-rivals Pakistan 6-2 in the final. The hero of the day was once again 19-year-old Harmanpreet Singh, who netted in 4 goals that raised his tally to 15.
Harmanpreet has widely been spoken bout by many experts in the hockey circle thanks to his excellent display and is touted to be one of the brightest young stars in Indian hockey today.
Here are a few things to know about this drag flicker.
1. Harmanpreet Singh was born on the 6th of January 1996 in a village on the outskirts of Amritsar.
2. As a kid, Harmanpreet was fascinated by tractors which his father, a farmer, would operate on the fields. His father, surprisingly, was okay with the young turk using the machine and would give him instructions over how to drive it. In a recent interview, Harmanpreet attributed the reasons for the enormous power that he generated off his drag-flicks to the jostle with the gear stick in the tractor
3. Harmanpreet joined the Surjit Singh Hockey academy in Jalandhar in 2011 with ambitions of becoming a forward and learnt the tricks of the trade from Gaganpreet Singh and Sukhjeet Singh.
4. He first came into the limelight at the Sultan of Johor Cup in Malaysia last year when he scored nine goals in the competition while playing for India U21, including a brace in the final which clinched the tie for his side. For his stellar performance, he was named the Player of the Tournament as well.
5. He backed that performance with yet another strong showing at the Australia that followed, scoring 7 goals in 5 matches.
6. He was picked by the Dabang Mumbai in the Hockey India League auctions for a sum of $51,000 in September.
7. Although India finished runners-up, Harmanpreet netted in a brace in the semifinals of the 2015 Sultan of Johor Cup against hosts Malaysia which helped the team qualify for the final. He also scored in the 1-0 win against Australia in the League stage of the tournament.
8. Harmanpreet was the star once again for India at the Junior Men’s Asia Cup, scoring an astounding 15 goals, including 4 in the final against arch-rivals Pakistan to help his side win the tournament.
