New Delhi, Mar 12 (IANS): Harbinder Singh, who has served Indian hockey for close to 60 years, is mighty impressed with the way both the men's and the women's team performed in 2019 and is now hoping that they continue with that and win a medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

"Both the Indian men's and women's hockey teams have put up some brilliant performances in 2019. Watching them qualify for the Tokyo Olympics in front of a home crowd was absolutely magnificent. They have played well against top teams in the recent past and I hope to see them perform exceedingly well at the Olympics later this year," said Singh.

Singh, who made his debut for the Indian men's team at the age of 18 in 1961, has been part of the Olympic Gold medal-winning team at Tokyo in 1964, Olympic Bronze medal-winning team at Mexico City in 1968 and Olympic Bronze medal-winning team at Munich in 1972.

The Olympic Gold medallist was recently bestowed the Hockey India Major Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award 2019 and believes that the awards by the sports federation will be a huge motivation for the players.

"I totally enjoyed watching the players receive their respective awards. I am confident that the awards will motivate everyone in the group to perform even better in the coming years. Recognition of efforts only pushes one to work even harder," said Singh.

Speaking about receiving the Hockey India Major Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award 2019, Singh said: "It is a huge honour for me to receive this award. I have given my entire life to hockey and it feels fantastic to be recognised by Hockey India and all my friends in the sport."

"I will continue to serve the game to the fullest and help in growing hockey even more in India. An Award which carries Major Dhyan Chand's name is a huge motivation and inspiration for myself," he added.