John-John Dohmen, Naomi Van named best hockey players of 2016

FIH Hockey Stars Awards 2016 were conferred on 23 February 2017 in Chandigarh. This was the first time in the history of Hockey that the ceremony was held to honour the best players, rising stars, goalkeepers, umpires and coaches.

Belgium captain John-John Dohmen and Netherlands' Naomi Van were named as male and female International Hockey Federation's (FIH) Player of the Year (2016) awards respectively.

The Olympic silver medallists Dohmen and Naomi were handed these awards at a ceremony hosted in Chandigarh.

Other awards and awardees are

• Hockey Stars 2016 female Goalkeeper of the Year: Won by Great Britain's Olympic gold medallist Maddie Hinch.

• Hockey Stars 2016 male Goalkeeper of the Year: won by Ireland's David Harte. He won the award for the second year in a row.

• Male Rising Star of the Year (2016): Belgium's Arthur Van Doren

• Female Rising Star of the Year (2016): Argentina’s Maria Granatto

• Coach of Year awards male: Great Britain’s Danny Kerry

• Coach of Year awards female: Great Britain’s Karen Brown

• Umpire of the Year award male: Germany’s Christian Blasch

• Umpire of the Year award female: Belgium’s Laurine Delforge

Indians in the fray for the award who returned empty-handed were Harmanpreet Singh (Rising Star of the Year) and captain and goalkeeper PR Sreejesh (for Goalkeeper of the Year).

Hockey legend Balbir Singh Senior, 92, gave away the award to David Harte, while the Player of the Year, both in men’s and women’s category was given by the FIH President Narinder Batra.

Details of the winners  

Naomi Van: Dutch attacking ace Van, who was the joint winner of the FIH Player of the Year Award in 2009, was superb throughout 2016. During the year, she produced top class performances as the Netherlands took silver medals at both the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and the Hockey Champions Trophy in London.

John-John Dohmen: Dohmen, the captain of Belgium, as the midfielder produced a string of flawless displays his team won the silver medal at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Maddie Hinch: Her shoot-out against the Netherlands in the final at the Rio Olympics helped the Great Britain to clinch the gold medal.

David Harte: He helped the hockey team of Ireland to make return to Olympic after 100 years. Earlier, he was judged as the 2015 Hockey Stars Goalkeeper of the Year.

Maria Granatto: She was named as the Best Junior player at that event for scoring three times during Argentina’s title success at the Hockey Champions Trophy in London.

Arthur Van Doren: Doren, the Olympic silver medallist from Belgium, has shown throughout 2016 that he is a world-class defender with composure beyond his years.