The Indian hockey team at the 14th Men’s World Cup is going great guns and is at the top of the Pool C points table with 4 points from 2 matches and a superior goal difference of 5.
Though the team has played like a cohesive unit in both the matches but one player who has been outstanding and instrumental in putting India in such a formidable position is the young forward from Jalandhar, Punjab, Simranjeet Singh.
Simranjeet has certainly made a mark for himself at the Hockey World Cup being played in Bhubaneswar. The aggressive forward who can play half-back and in forwarding positions also scored 2 goals against South Africa in India’s first match of the World Cup. India won the match with a scoreline of 5-0. Simranjit Singh was named the Man of the Match for that game.
After that, in the second match played against Belgium, he gave India a 2-1 lead at a very important juncture of the match and almost won the match for India. But in the last 4 minutes of the match, Belgium scored the equalizer and shared 1 point each with India.
Simranjeet Singh is currently the joint highest scorer with 3 goals in the Hockey World Cup.
Simranjeet has been come from the Junior Hockey ranks and has represented India at the Sultan of Johar Hockey Cup played in Malaysia in 2014, where he won the Gold medal. He then went on to be part of the Gold medal winning Indian hockey team in the Junior World Cup held in 2016 in Lucknow, UP.
He has been a pupil of the Surjit Singh Hockey Academy Academy in Jalandhar and is also the cousin of international hockey player Gurjant Singh. Both of them have represented the country recently in the Asian Champions Trophy.
Simranjit, who represents ONGC's team in domestic Hockey, has also been a part of the Silver medal winning Champions Trophy team of 2018, which was held in Breda, Netherlands.
Simranjit Singh was taught the nuances of the game by his uncle, Chacha Rachpal Singh. The Jalandhar lad has played 26 international hockey matches and considers Pargat Singh as his ideal.