Sandeep SINGH

Later that year, at the age of 17, Sandeep Singh was drafted into the Indian hockey team for the 2004 Athens Olympics, making him the youngest Indian to represent the national men’s team at the Games. The record stands to this day.

The youngster, soon to be nicknamed ‘Flicker Singh’ due to his rapid drag-flicks, made steady progress, as he emerged as the top scorer with 10 goals at the 2005 Junior World Cup, helping India to a fourth-place finish.

Sandeep Singh was then included in the senior team for the 2006 Hockey World Cup. It was an event that was supposed to be his springboard to success with the Indian national team but the dream was cruelly cut short a few months prior.

On August 22, 2006, a 20-year-old Sandeep Singh was travelling from Chandigarh to New Delhi, by the Kalka Shatabdi Express, to join his team-mates. On board the train, a Railway Protection Force (RPF) officer’s gun accidentally went off, and a bullet ripped through Sandeep Singh’s lower abdomen, causing several internal injuries.

A complicated surgery followed in a Chandigarh hospital to remove the bullet and when Sandeep Singh finally regained consciousness, he was told by the doctors that he would be paralysed from the waist down and he may never play hockey again.

It was a very tough pill to swallow for the youngster, who faced a long period of physical and mental rehabilitation. He asked his brother Bikramjeet to hand him the hockey stick his father gifted him as a child to motivate himself and gradually regained his strength with the help of his family.

A year after the accident, Sandeep Singh began walking again and returned to the hockey field soon. He regained his place in the Indian hockey team by 2008, a year when India were unable to qualify for the Beijing Olympics.

With some desperate changes needed, Sandeep Singh was soon promoted as captain. He led India to the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup title in 2009, winning the coveted trophy after 13 years. 

He enjoyed a stellar individual campaign - scoring six goals (most in the tournament), recording the then-fastest drag-flick in the world (145kmph) and was named ‘Man of the Tournament.’

At the 2010 Commonwealth Games, Sandeep Singh led India to a silver medal. In 2012, Sandeep Singh, motivated by the heartbreak of not qualifying for Beijing 2008, netted 16 goals in the Olympic qualifying tournament, including scoring five goals in the final, to take India through to the 2012 London Olympics.

In the next two years, Sandeep Singh played in the heart of the defence and blooded youngsters as India built a formidable team for the future.

Sandeep Singh formally announced his retirement in 2016, and soon ventured into politics. He now serves as the sports minister of Haryana, bringing in reforms in the sporting culture and developing the next generation of superstars.