India's PR Sreejesh and Savita Punia were on Wednesday voted FIH Men's and Women's Goalkeeper of the Year respectively for the second year running, on the back of their strong shows under the bar.
In his 16th year as a full international for India, Sreejesh once again showed his value to the team, playing in all 16 games in the FIH Hockey Pro League as India finished in the third position.
He also played in all six games at 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games where India won the Silver medal.
"The longevity of PR Sreejesh's career continues to defy logic as the 34-year-old Indian shot-stopper continues to raise his game as the years roll on," the FIH said in a statement on Sreejesh, who had also won the award last year.
Sreejesh got 39.9 total points in the voting, followed by Belgium's Loic van Doren (26.3 points) and Netherlands' Primin Blaak (23.2 points).
Sreejesh is the third player to win back-to-back FIH Goalkeeper of the Year award. A similar feat was achieved in the past by David Harte (Ireland) who won the award in 2015 and 2016, and Vincent Vanasch (Belgium) who won it three consecutive times from 2017 to 2019.
During the course of the season, Sreejesh also completed 250 international appearances, becoming the eighth Indian and the only goalkeeper to achieve the feat.
"No doubt, this is a special award because the hockey fans are voting for us. This is a big honour for me and a testimony to all the hard work," said Sreejesh.
"Winning awards, no matter at what stage in your career you are at, is always a motivating factor. This award surely motivates me to further improve and do well in an all-important year where we will play the FIH Hockey Men's World Cup Bhubaneswar-Rourkela 2023."
The 32-year-old Savita finished on top of the voting with 37.6 points. Argentina legend Belén Succi received second most points with 26.4, followed by Australia stalwart Jocelyn Bartam (16 points).
Savita is now only the third athlete to win the Goalkeeper of the Year (women) for consecutive years since the inception of the award in 2014.
"This surely is a big surprise and a very pleasant one. I am sure many Indian hockey fans voted for us and I thank each one of them," said Savita who is currently playing for Haryana in the National Games in Gujarat.
Savita was instrumental in leading India to a podium finish in the FIH Hockey Pro League 2021-22, in their debut campaign, pulling off an astounding 57 saves in the 14 games she played.
