Indian international SV Sunil was recently appointed as the new vice-captain of the men’s hockey squad for the upcoming Sultan Azlan Shah Cup to be played in Ipoh, Malaysia. The 26-year old forward will support Sardar Singh’s leadership in the absence of PR Sreejesh, who is rested for the 7-nation tournament along with senior players like Birendra Lakra, Akashdeep Singh, Dharamvir Singh and V.R. Raghunath.
The Karnataka-based forward has been nominated for the ‘Dhanraj Pillay Forward of the Year’ award for the upcoming Hockey India 2nd Annual Awards to be held on 26th March in Bengaluru. Sunil expressed his joy in being nominated in an exclusive conversation with Sportskeeda and said, “First of all, being related to Dhanraj Pillay’s name is a big thing as we don’t have any other player as great as him, I am really satisfied with whosoever is selected by Hockey India for this particular award.”
“I think these things do motivate the players to perform even better”
Along with Sunil, Hockey India has also nominated young Akashdeep Singh, the women’s team ace forward Rani Rampal and Anuradha Thokchom for the prestigious 'Dhanraj Pillay Forward of the Year' award. The recipient of the award will be given a trophy and a cash prize of INR 5 lakhs as a recognition of their contribution to Indian hockey in the last calendar year.
According to Sunil, these awards will surely help in motivating the players to give even more on the pitch, he said, "These things were not used to happen before, since last year, Hockey India has taken this responsibility to support the players through these functions, incentives and awards, and I think these things do motivate the players to perform even better.”
Sunil’s services were secured by the Punjab-based franchise Jaypee Punjab Warriors in the inaugural season of the Hockey India League and since then, has been retained by the Warriors for consecutive 3 seasons. The Warriors went on to win the recently concluded Hockey India League 2016 title by beating Kalinga Lancers in the final.
These awards are given in recognition of excellence in performance for 2015 and overall contribution to the game of hockey. The second edition of the most coveted awards in Indian hockey carries a total prize money of over INR 2.00 Crore.
