Manpreet Singhਮਨਪ੍ਰੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ

Manpreet Singh is an Indian field hockey midfielder from Mithapur village near Jalandhar, Punjab, who captained India to the bronze medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. A four time Olympian who became India's most capped hockey player in June 2026, he has been at the centre of Indian hockey's return to the Olympic podium.

Where is Manpreet Singh from?

Manpreet Singh is from Mithapur, a village on the outskirts of Jalandhar in Punjab's Doaba region. He was born there on 26 June 1992 into a farming Sikh family, and the village's hockey culture shaped his life: Mithapur is also the home village of former India captain Pargat Singh, whose career inspired the young Manpreet to pick up a hockey stick. His elder brothers also played the game, and prizes they won from local tournaments first attracted him to the sport.

Early life and the road to the India team

Manpreet began playing hockey seriously at the age of ten. The story told in Indian media is that his mother once locked him in a room to keep him from playing, and he escaped to reach the ground. In 2005 he enrolled at the Surjit Hockey Academy in Jalandhar, one of India's most respected hockey schools, where his discipline and midfield game developed. His family began backing him fully after his early tournament winnings showed that hockey could be a career.

He broke into the junior national setup and captained India at the 2013 Men's Hockey Junior World Cup. The same year he led India to gold at the Sultan of Johor Cup, scoring in the 3-0 final win over Malaysia. In 2014 the Asian Hockey Federation named him Asia's Junior Player of the Year. His senior India debut came in 2011, when he was just 19, and he was part of India's squad at the London 2012 Olympics.

Captain of India and the Tokyo bronze

On 18 May 2017 Manpreet was promoted to captain of the India team for the three-nation invitational tournament in Germany and the World League semi-final in England. Under his captaincy India won the 2017 Asia Cup and the 2018 Asian Champions Trophy, and in 2019 he became the first Indian player to win the FIH Men's Player of the Year award.

The defining chapter of his captaincy came at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, held in 2021. Manpreet was one of India's flag bearers at the opening ceremony alongside Mary Kom. India lost 1-7 to Australia in the group stage but fought back to beat Spain, Argentina and Japan, then defeated Great Britain 3-1 in the quarter-final. After a 2-5 semi-final defeat to eventual champions Belgium, India beat Germany 5-4 in the bronze medal match. It was India's first Olympic hockey medal since Moscow 1980, ending a 41-year wait.

What did Manpreet Singh win at the Olympics?

Manpreet won the bronze medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics as captain, and added a second bronze at the Paris 2024 Olympics as a senior player. He is a four time Olympian: London 2012, Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024. His other major medals include Asian Games gold at Incheon 2014 and Hangzhou 2022, bronze at Jakarta 2018, Commonwealth Games silver at Glasgow 2014 and Birmingham 2022, Asia Cup gold at Dhaka 2017, and Asian Champions Trophy titles in 2018, 2023 and 2024.

Honours and records

Manpreet received the Arjuna Award in 2018 and the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna in 2021, India's highest sporting honour. He also won Hockey India's Balbir Singh Sr. Award for Player of the Year in 2019. On 17 June 2026 he became India's most capped hockey player when he played his 413th international match against Germany in the FIH Pro League at Rotterdam, passing Dilip Tirkey's record of 412 caps. Hockey India announced a cash award of Rs 10 lakh to mark the achievement. He plays club hockey for Punjab Armed Police.

Legacy and life off the pitch

Manpreet is known as the engine of the Indian midfield: a player who covers the whole pitch, wins the ball and sets the tempo. Hockey India has called him the heartbeat of the team, a leader who stayed calm when matches were on the line. Away from hockey he married Illi Najwa Saddique in December 2020. A difficult personal moment came during the 2016 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, when his father died just before the opening match; after performing the last rites he returned to the tournament at his mother's urging, honouring his father's wish that he keep playing for India.

From a village ground near Jalandhar to leading India to an Olympic medal, Manpreet Singh's career mirrors Indian hockey's own comeback. His journey has inspired a generation of young players in Punjab to believe that the road from a small village to the Olympic podium is still open.