Simranjeet Singhਸਿਮਰਨਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ

Simranjeet Singh is an Indian field hockey midfielder whose two goals in the bronze-medal match at the Tokyo Olympics made him one of the heroes of India's return to the Olympic hockey podium after 41 years. Born on 27 December 1996 at Majhola in Pilibhit district, Uttar Pradesh, he grew up in a hockey family and found his game in Punjab, at Chahal Kalan, his family's village near Batala in Gurdaspur district.

Where is Simranjeet Singh from?

Simranjeet was born at Majhola, a town in Pilibhit district of Uttar Pradesh, where his father Iqbal Singh farmed and had played hockey himself. The family's ancestral home is Chahal Kalan, a village near Batala in Gurdaspur district, Punjab, and Batala is the town Simranjeet calls his hometown. As a boy he moved to Batala to live with his paternal uncle, who saw how keen he was on the game and took him to the local hockey ground. His cousin Gurjant Singh, his uncle's son, grew up playing alongside him and later became his teammate for India.

That move to Batala set the course of his life. He did his early schooling in Majhola and finished school in Punjab, and the game quickly became the centre of everything. His father and one of his brothers had played hockey before him, and his brother Satinder Chahal played the game too, so a hockey stick was never far from hand in the Singh household.

Early life and training

Simranjeet first trained in Patiala and then joined the Surjit Hockey Academy in Jalandhar, the nursery that has produced a long line of Punjab internationals. Coaches there shaped him into an attacking midfielder who could also play further forward, quick with the ball and calm in the circle. He played junior international hockey from 2014, when he appeared at the Sultan of Johor Cup, and in that same year he received a Hockey India annual award for his contribution to the game at junior level.

In the Hockey India League he played for the Ranchi Rays, sharing a dressing room with the Australian great Jamie Dwyer, an experience he later said taught him how to prepare like a professional. In domestic hockey he played for the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board, the employer side that many India players represent.

Junior World Cup breakthrough

The tournament that announced Simranjeet to Indian hockey fans was the 2016 Junior World Cup in Lucknow. India reached the final against Belgium at the Major Dhyan Chand Stadium, and Simranjeet scored the second goal in the 22nd minute, a reverse-stick shot from the edge of the circle after a pass from Nilakanta Sharma. His cousin Gurjant had opened the scoring in the eighth minute, and India held on for a 2-1 win, the country's first junior world title in 15 years. The two cousins had grown up playing together, and they lifted the trophy together.

Senior career and the road to Tokyo

Simranjeet made his senior India debut in 2018. In his first year he played at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, where India finished fourth after losing the bronze-medal match to England, and won silver at the Champions Trophy in Breda, where India lost the final to Australia. At the Asian Games in Jakarta later that year he was part of the side that took bronze after losing the semi-final to Malaysia. He also played at the 2018 World Cup in Bhubaneswar, won the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in 2019 and took gold at the FIH Series Finals in Bhubaneswar the same year, when India beat South Africa in the final.

By the time the Tokyo Olympics squad was named, Simranjeet had 47 senior caps and 13 goals for India, a tally recorded in the official squad list in July 2021. Sources differ on his exact career totals after that point, so no later figure is stated here as final.

How did Simranjeet Singh win Olympic bronze?

Simranjeet was not in the original 16-man squad for Tokyo that coach Graham Reid named in June 2021. He travelled as a reserve, and joined the playing squad only when the International Olympic Committee allowed teams to add two alternate athletes because of the pandemic. He used his time on the bench well, studying opponents from the sidelines, and when his chance came he took it. Against Spain in the pool stage he scored the opening goal in the 14th minute of a 3-0 win that put India's campaign back on track after a heavy defeat by Australia.

Then came the bronze-medal match against Germany on 5 August 2021. Simranjeet scored twice, in the 17th and 34th minutes, as India came back to win 5-4. It was India's first Olympic hockey medal since the gold at Moscow 1980, a gap of 41 years, and his two goals made him the face of that win for many fans back home. Hockey India later described his journey from the sidelines to the centre of the bronze-medal match as one for the books, and Simranjeet himself has said the medal fulfilled a dream he had carried since childhood.

Injuries and the fight to return

The years after Tokyo were hard. A knee injury picked up in a fall at a training camp started a run of setbacks, and Simranjeet missed tournament after tournament. At the Asia Cup in Jakarta in May 2022 he played only the opening match against Pakistan before injury sent him home, though India still took bronze. He missed the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham later that year, where India won silver without him, and he missed the World Cup in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela in January 2023.

In April 2023 Hockey India recalled him to the 39-member national core group, and he spoke openly about wanting to make the squad for the Asian Games in Hangzhou. He did not make that squad, and back-to-back injuries before Paris ruled him out of the 2024 Olympics as well. He has spoken about that disappointment with unusual honesty, saying the coaches were thinking long term, that he was satisfied with what he had done in the matches he played, and that being dropped is part of the circle of team sport.

What is Simranjeet Singh doing now?

In December 2024 Simranjeet set his sights on a comeback through the Hockey India League, signing for UP Rudras for the league's return season. He said he had been out of the national setup for about a year and wanted to get his flow back one match at a time, with the league as his stage. His old junior teammate Hardik Singh captained the Rudras side.

His story is a reminder that a hockey career is rarely a straight line. From reserve to match-winner in Tokyo, then from injury back to the start of the road, Simranjeet has made a habit of answering setbacks on the field. Few who watched him score twice against Germany would write him off.