Sardara Singh (born 15 July 1986), sometimes referred as Sardar Singh, is an Indian field hockey coach and former

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

player. He also served as the captain of the Indian national team. He usually plays the center half position. Sardara became the youngest player to captain the Indian team when he led the side at the

2008 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup The 2008 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup was the 17th edition of field hockey tournament the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup. Participating nations Seven countries participated in the tournament: * * * * * * * Results ''All times are Malaysia Standard Time Ma ...

. He was awarded

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

, the fourth highest civilian award of India, in 2015. On 13 July 2016, the responsibilities of the captain were handed over from him to P. R. Sreejesh, the goalkeeper of Indian Team. On 12 September 2018, Sardara announced his retirement from international hockey. He played 314 matches during 12 years in his career.

Early life

Sardara was born in Haryana's village Sant Nagar in

Sirsa District Sirsa district is the largest district by area in Haryana state, India. Sirsa is the district headquarters. It is located on National Highway 9 and from the capital Delhi. On 1 September 1975, Sirsa became a district by taking Sirsa and Dabw ...

to Gurnam Singh, a RMP doctor, and Jasveer Kaur, a housewife.

Career

Sardara Singh made his debut for India in the junior team during India's 2003–04 tour of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. He made his senior debut against

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

in 2006. He also plays for his state of

Haryana Haryana () is a States and union territories of India, state located in the northern part of India. It was carved out after the linguistic reorganisation of Punjab, India, Punjab on 1 November 1966. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with les ...

. He is a Deputy Superintendent Police Officer with the

Haryana Police The Haryana Police Department is the law enforcement agency for the state of Haryana, India. Present DGP of Haryana Police is Shatrujeet Singh Kapoor since August 16, 2023. He is an IPS officer of 1990 batch. History The Haryana Police were ...

and plays for their team. Singh played for Chandigarh Dynamos in the inaugural season of the

Premier Hockey League Premier Hockey League (PHL) was a professional field hockey league in India. There were seven teams in the PHL. The competition was held every year from 2005 until 2008. History The competition conceptualized by Anurag Dahiya of ESPN Star ...

in 2005. He played for

Hyderabad Sultans The Hyderabad Sultans was the Indian Premier Hockey League team from Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Mus ...

in the next three seasons till 2008, captaining the side. His brother Didar Singh, a

drag flick Drag flicking is a scoring technique in the sport of field hockey. It was first seen in the late 1980s in Australia. It is used as an attacking technique, mainly within penalty corner involving two main components known as the scoop and flick. The ...

specialist also played for the Indian team,

and Chandigarh Dynamos. In 2010, he was included in the 18-men FIH All-Star team. In the same year, Singh was signed by the Belgian club, KHC Leuven to play in the Belgian Hockey League. In 2011, he was again named on the FIH All-Star team. Following Singh's impressive showing at the 2013 Asia Cup, he was signed by the Dutch club

HC Bloemendaal Hockey Club Bloemendaal (), commonly known as Bloemendaal, is a Dutch professional field hockey club based in Bloemendaal, North Holland. It was established on 26 April 1895, and is one of the oldest field hockey clubs in the Netherlands. Originall ...

as a replacement to

Teun de Nooijer Teun Floris de Nooijer (born 22 March 1976) is a field hockey player from the Netherlands, who twice became Olympic champion with the Dutch national squad, in 1996 Summer Olympics, 1996 and in 2000 Summer Olympics, ...

. On 13 July 2016, the responsibilities of the captain were handed over from him to P. R. Sreejesh, the goalkeeper of Indian team. He has captained Indian team for 8 years. He quit the sport in September 2018. In 2019, he was included in a 13-member Hockey India selection committee.

Hockey India League

Sardar Singh became the highest-paid marquee player at the inaugural

Hockey India League Hockey India League is a professional field hockey league in India. It is organized by Hockey India, the governing body for the sport in India. It is considered one of the major sports leagues of the country. It was founded in 2013 as a part ...

auctions as the

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

franchise bought him for US$78,000 (42,49,000). The Delhi team was named

Delhi Waveriders Delhi Waveriders was a professional field hockey team based in Delhi that played in the Hockey India League. It was owned by The Wave Group. Franchisee details Ownership The team is owned by The Wave Group, after the company bought the Franchis ...

. He captained his side to finish on second place in its inaugural season and was awarded the 'Player of the Tournament.' He was honoured with Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award. Indian hockey team captain saradara sing at kalinga stadium

Indian hockey team captain saradara sing at kalinga stadium

Punjabi Music Industry

Sardar Singh is making his first Punjabi Music Industry debut by featuring in song ‘Gallan Karraiyan’ by veteran Punjabi singer Hardeep Singh of Shehar Patiale de fame. The song is written by Sukha Wadali and the music is by

Jaidev Kumar Jaidev Kumar is an Indian musician and producer, who was born in Delhi but who moved to Mumbai in 2000. He has been working in the Punjabi music industry since 1999. His first hit album was "Dil Le Gayi Kudi Gujarat Di". He is the son of musi ...

Achievements

* Awarded 'Player of Tournament' in the

2012 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup The 2012 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup is the 21st edition of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup. It was held from 24 May to 3 June 2012 in Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia. New Zealand won their first ever title by defeating Argentina with 1–0 in the final, while five-time ...

, where India won the Bronze. * He was adjudged the Player of the Tournament in the 2012 Summer Olympics Qualifiers, where India won the Gold. * He was adjudged the Player of the Tournament in the

2010 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup The 2010 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup was the 19th edition of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, a field hockey tournament held between 6–16 May 2010. Due to bad weather, the final between India and Korea was abandoned after 6 minutes and 14 seconds of play. Af ...

, where India won the Gold. * He participated in Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament in Malaysia in the year 2006 and the team won Bronze Medal. * He participated in SAF Games at Colombo in the year 2006 and the team scored 2nd position. * He participated in 7th Junior Challenge Open Men's at Poland 2006 and scored 2nd position. * He participated in 2007 Men's Hockey Champions Challenge at Belgium 2007 and got Bronze Medal. * He participated in

Commonwealth Games 2006 The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006, were an International sport, international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Melbourne ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. * He participated in INDO-PAK series 2006. * He participated in ''Four Nations International Tournament'' at Germany and the team scored Bronze Medal. * He also participated in Four Nations Hockey Tournament at Lahore and the team win Silver Medal. * He participated in

Men's Hockey Asia Cup The Men's Hockey Asia Cup is a men's international field hockey tournament organized by the Asian Hockey Federation. The winning team becomes the champion of Asia and qualifies for the FIH Hockey World Cup. South Korea are the defending champio ...

at Chennai 2007 and the team grabbed Gold Medal. * Sardara Singh by Ijas Muhammed Photography

He participated for India in Canada for the 7 game Test Series against the Canadian National Field Hockey Team

References

External links

Profile
at

Hockey India Hockey India plans, directs and conducts all the activities for both men's and women's field hockey in India. It is recognized by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India as the sole body responsible towards promoting the ...