Tokyo Olympics champion Belgium not happy as India bag top honors at FIH awards

New Delhi: Dejected with the results of the FIH Hockey Stars Awards 2020-21, Hockey Belgium on Wednesday said their men's team clinched a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, but failed to win a single award, demonstrating failure of the voting system. 

The voting-based annual awards had six Indian hockey players and two coaches from both the Indian hockey teams (Men and Women) nominated for various categories. This is the first time that all nominees from India have won the prestigious awards in their respective categories. 

Gurjit Kaur (Best Player, Women), Harmanpreet Singh (Best Player, Men), Savita (Best Goalkeeper, Women), PR Sreejesh (Best Goalkeeper, Men), Sharmila Devi (Best Rising Star, Women) and Vivek Prasad (Best Rising Star, Men) as well as the coaches of India`s women`s team, Sjoerd Marijne (NED) and India`s men`s team, Graham Reid (AUS) grabbed the highest number of votes in their respective categories. 

To this, Hockey Belgium took Twitter to share their emotions. They said they will work with the world governing body to create a "fairer" system.  

Hockey Belgium is very disappointed with the outcome of @FIH_Hockey Star Awards. A gold winning team with multiple nominees in all categories but doesn't win a single award demonstrates failure of the voting system. We will work with FIH to ensure a fairer system in the future. https://t.co/n7KAw2SioN

— Hockey Belgium (@hockeybe) October 6, 2021

"Hockey Belgium is very disappointed with the outcome of @FIH_Hockey Star Awards. A gold winning team with multiple nominees in all categories but doesn`t win a single award demonstrates failure of the voting system. We will work with FIH to ensure a fairer system in the future," the hockey body wrote.