Hockey: India sweeps FIH annual awards; men's Olympic champion Belgium says this is not normal

India swept the International Hockey Federations annual awards on Wednesday claiming all the top honours based on a voting system which was lambasted as a failure by mens Olympic champions Belgium prompting the FIH to say that it would try to figure why some associations did not cast their ballotFive Indian players and the head coaches of both the mens and womens teams in Tokyo claimed the top honours across different categories after fetching the maximum votes The mens hockey team had won a bronze its first in 41 years in the Tokyo Olympics while the womens side had finished an unprecedented fourth in the showpieceHarmanpreet Singh won the mens Player of the Year award and Gurjit Kaur was recognised as the best player in the womens section Veteran P R Sreejesh and Savita Punia won the best goalkeeper awards in the mens and womens section while young striker Sharmila Devi women and Vivek Sagar Prasad men were adjudged best rising starsThe dragclick duo of Harmanpreet and Gurjit were the topscorers in their respective teams stellar run at the GamesMens team coach Graham Reid and womens coach Sjoerd Marijne were also voted the best While Reid is still with the team Marijnes tenure ended after the Tokyo GamesAlso Read Hockey India withdraws from 2022 Birmingham CWG cites Covid19 concerns discriminatory quarantine rulesHockey Belgium reacted sharply to the announcement of the winners and questioned the process as none of their Tokyo Games champions managed to win an awardVotes from National Associations represented by their respective national captains and coaches accounted for 50 per cent of the overall result while fans and players 25 per cent as well as media 25 per cent made the other half of the votesIt is to be noted that only 19 associations from the 42strong European bloc cast their votes compared to 29 out of 33 in AsiaHockey Belgium is very disappointed with the outcome of FIH_Hockey Star Awards A gold winning team with multiple nominees in all categories but doesnt win a single award demonstrates failure of the voting system We will work with FIH to ensure a fairer system in the future the Belgian association tweetedThe sentiment was shared by the teams official handle as wellWe fully agree This is not normal The credibility and image of our sport is once again facing hard times Its a pitty sic FIH stated the Red LionsIn all 79 National Associations voted the others being Africa 11 out of 25 Member Associations Oceania 3 out of 8 and Pan America 17 out of 30And with a record number of almost 300000 fans casting their votes fan participation in the FIH Hockey Stars Awards has been exceptional the FIH saidFollowing Belgiums objection FIH issued a statement to clarify its stand and promised a review if necessaryAs one can see all winning athletes have topped the standings in each of the three voting groupsAs always FIH will conduct a review of the FIH Hockey Star Awards and make adjustments wherever deemed necessary In particular we will focus on establishing why a number of national associations failed to vote it saidThe nominations from Belgium men and the Netherlands women who were not only crowned Olympic Champions but also won the 202021 FIH Hockey Pro League finished behind the Indians once the votes were countedBelgium duo of Alexander Hendrickx and Arthur van Doren were voted second and third best players respectively among men with Vincent Vanasch Belgium named second best goalkeeper and Shane McLeod of New Zealand second best coachAmong women Eva de Goede and Frederique Matla of the Netherlands clinched the respective second and third places in the Player of the Year awards while Alyson Annan of Australia finished second for the FIH Coach of the Year AwardGreat Britain goalkeeper Maddie Hinch rising star Fiona Crackles and coach Mark Hager of Australia all were third in their respective categoriesWith the FIH Hockey Stars Awards skipped in 2020 due to the impact of the Covid19 global health pandemic on the international calendar this years awards covered the period from January 2020 through to the conclusion of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 the FIH saidThe voting process started on 23 August and concluded on 15 September 2021 Votes from National Associations represented by their respective national captains and coaches counted for 50 pe cent of the overall result while fans and players 25 per cent as well as media 25 per cent made the other half of the votes it addedHockey India President Gyanendro Ningombam congratulated the winnersThis is a great moment for Indian hockey as all our Indian nominees for the FIH Stars Awards have been announced winnersAfter the historic performances in Tokyo by both Indian Men and Womens Hockey teams the support from Indian fans from across the globe has been overwhelming he saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of 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