ਜਰਮਨਪ੍ਰੀਤ ਸਿੰਘਜਰਮਨਪ੍ਰੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ

Jarmanpreet Singh (born 18 July 1996) is an Indian field hockey defender from Rajdhan village in Amritsar district, Punjab. A calm and reliable presence on the right side of India's defence, he made his Olympic debut at Paris 2024, where India won the bronze medal, and he has since helped India win gold at the 2022 and 2026 Asian Games and the 2025 Asia Cup. His rise is also a comeback story: a two-year doping ban in his teens, after medicine prescribed for back pain, nearly ended his career before it began.

Early life in Rajdhan

Jarmanpreet was born on 18 July 1996 in Rajdhan, a village near Baba Bakala in Amritsar district, in the Majha region of Punjab. His father retired from the Punjab Police, and the family kept its farming roots: even after becoming an Olympian, Jarmanpreet still returns to work in the family fields. He grew up in a part of Punjab where hockey is woven into daily life, and like many boys of his generation he learned the game on village grounds before any coach saw him.

His formal training began at the Surjit Singh Hockey Academy in Jalandhar, named after the late India captain Surjit Singh. The academy has produced a long line of India internationals, and Jarmanpreet stood out there as a sturdy, skilful defender who could carry the ball forward from the back. At eighteen he was picked for the Punjab franchise of the Hockey India League, a chance to play and train alongside some of the best players in the world. By then he was already in India's junior system, and he had been picked in the plans for the 2016 Junior World Cup.

The ban that nearly ended it all

In 2015, when he was nineteen, Jarmanpreet failed a dope test. The banned substance came from medicine his doctor had prescribed for lower back pain, given by injection in his village. The ban that followed ran from 2016 to 2018, two full years out of the game at the age when most players are breaking through. It cost him his place at the 2016 Junior World Cup, a tournament he had been on course to play.

Jarmanpreet has spoken openly about that period. "It was not easy. It was one of my darkest phases, with many uncertainties," he told the Press Trust of India. "Players don't usually emerge from a setback like this. To sit out of matches for two years is a big gap in the sport." What carried him through was persistence and the domestic structure: he rebuilt his game in domestic hockey, first with the Railway Sports Promotion Board team and then with the Income Tax Department team, where he also found work as an Income Tax officer.

Senior career and the Paris bronze

After the 2018 Hockey India Senior Men National Championship, Jarmanpreet was named among the fifty probables in the national camp, and Hockey India gave him a place in the senior programme to catch up with his peers. His senior India debut came at the 2018 Men's Hockey Champions Trophy in Breda, in the Netherlands, where India finished runners-up. From there he became a regular in the side, valued less for goals than for the steadiness he brought to the back line: clean tackles, calm distribution and the stamina to patrol the right flank for a full match.

The medals followed. He was part of the Indian team that won silver at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and gold at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou, and he played at the 2023 World Cup in Odisha, where India finished ninth. At the Asian Champions Trophy he collected gold in Muscat in 2018, in Chennai in 2023 and in Hulunbuir in 2024, with a bronze in Dhaka in 2021. By July 2024 he had played 98 matches for India.

The biggest stage came at Paris 2024. Picked in India's sixteen member squad, Jarmanpreet was one of five players making their Olympic debut. India finished with the bronze medal, beating Spain 2-1 in the third place match, with captain Harmanpreet Singh scoring both goals. The medal completed one of Indian hockey's most unlikely comebacks: a player banned at nineteen, standing on an Olympic podium at twenty eight.

What medals has Jarmanpreet Singh won?

Jarmanpreet's medal record with India covers every major tournament in Asian and world hockey. At the Olympic Games he has one medal, the bronze from Paris 2024. At the Asian Games he has two golds, from Hangzhou 2022 and Aichi-Nagoya 2026, where India retained the title. At the Asia Cup he has gold from Rajgir 2025, where India beat South Korea 4-1 in the final and qualified directly for the 2026 World Cup. His other medals include silver at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, silver at the 2018 Champions Trophy in Breda, and three Asian Champions Trophy golds, in 2018, 2023 and 2024, plus bronze in 2021.

The caps kept coming after Paris. In February 2026, during the Hobart leg of the FIH Pro League, he completed 150 international caps for India, in a match against Spain. Hockey India lists him at 164 caps and eight goals, a tally that keeps growing as he remains a first choice defender.

Honours and later life

In 2024 Jarmanpreet received the Arjuna Award, India's second highest sporting honour, for his performances through the Paris cycle. He collected the award in January 2025. In domestic hockey he plays for the Income Tax Department team, and in the Hockey India League he turns out for Delhi SG Pipers, who named him captain of their men's team, with Australian midfielder Ky Willott as vice-captain.

Away from hockey he has stayed close to his roots. He works as an Income Tax officer, posted in Bengaluru, and returns to Rajdhan between assignments. In November 2026 he shared a short video of himself driving a tractor and ploughing the family fields, captioned "Nation duty, home duty", with a message to young people about family and giving time to those who stood by them.

ਵਿਰਾਸਤ

Jarmanpreet's story is now told in Punjab as a lesson in patience. He belongs to a generation of Majha defenders who rebuilt Indian hockey's reputation after lean years, playing alongside captain Harmanpreet Singh, Manpreet Singh and a core that won back to back Asian Games golds. For young players in Amritsar district, his path matters because it is local: the same academy in Jalandhar, the same village fields, and a setback that would have ended most careers.

His legacy is still being written. At thirty, with more than 160 caps and an Olympic medal, he remains central to India's defence as the team builds towards the 2026 World Cup, and his comeback from a two-year ban is the part of his story young players quote back to him.