New Delhi, March 3 (IANS): National hockey captains Manpreet Singh and Rani Rampal were on Tuesday nominated for the Dhruv Batra Player of the Year award in male and female categories, respectively, by Hockey India for its third annual awards slated on March 8.
The third edition of the awards carries a total prize money of Rs 1.30 crore along with a trophy in each category. The Major Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award carries a cash prize of Rs 30 lakh and a trophy while the Dhruv Batra Player of the Year awards in each both men's and women's categories carry a cash prize of Rs 25 lakh plus a trophy. The Jugraj Singh Upcoming Player of the Year (men) and Asunta Lakra Upcoming Player of the Year (women) awards that are given to promising U-21 players carry cash prize of Rs 10 lakh each and trophies.
The Baljit Singh Goalkeeper of the Year, Pargat Singh Defender of the Year, Ajit Pal Singh Midfielder of the Year and Dhanraj Pillay Forward of the Year awards each carry cash prizes of Rs 5 lakh and trophies.
The President's Award for Outstanding Achievement 2019 as well as Jaman Lal Sharma Award for Invaluable Contribution will also carry a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh each and trophies.
Manpreet, who became the first Indian to win the FIH Best Player of the Year award earlier this month, was nominated for guiding the team to Tokyo Olympics berth. He has been named alongside Harmanpreet Singh, Mandeep Singh and Surender Kumar for the HI award.
Rani, who became the first-ever hockey player to win the World Games Athlete of the Year award last month, has been nominated along with Deep Grace Ekka, Gurjit Kaur and Savita.
Vivek Sagar Prasad has been nominated for Jugraj Singh Upcoming Player of the Year (men's U-21) award along with Dilpreet Singh, Gursahibjit Singh and Mandeep Mor.
The nominations for Asunta Lakra Upcoming Player of the Year (women's U-21) award included Lalremsiami, Salima Tete and Sharmila Devi.
Rani has also been named in the list of nomination for Dhanraj Pillay Award for Forward of the Year along with Lalit Kumar Upadhyay, Mandeep Singh and Navneet Kaur.
Manpreet and Vivek Sagar have been nominated for the Ajit Pal Singh Award (midfielder of the year) along with Monika and Neha Goyal.
Deep Grace, Harmanpreet Singh, Surender and Varun Kumar have been nominated for the Pargat Singh Award (defender of the year). India goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh along with Krishan B Pathak, Rajani Etimarpu and Savita have been nominated for Baljit Singh Award (goalkeeper of the year).