Shivendra Singh

Some Lesser Known Facts About Shivendra Singh

• Shivendra Singh is a former Indian hockey player who played at the centre forward position. He also served as the assistant coach of the national men’s hockey team.

• Shivendra Singh’s elder brother used to play hockey and used to go for practice in the nearby stadium. Shivendra who earlier used to play in the streets started accompanying his brother and that’s how he got inclined towards the sport.

• His formal hockey training started in Gwalior and then in 1998, Shivendra participated in the Sub-junior national championship and later, he signed a contract with the Tata Power hockey team.

• Shivendra used to try his hand at the trials to get admission into the SAI (Sports Association of India) in Saifai, Uttar Pradesh and finally in 1998, he cleared his trials and got admission into SAI’s Uttar Pradesh branch and in 1999, he shifted to the Mumbai branch of SAI.

• In 2002, Shivendra joined the Western Railways hockey team where he was trained by the former hockey player Gurbux Singh and meanwhile, Shivendra also participated in a few invitational tournaments, junior nationals, and junior district tournaments.

• In 2003, he was part of the training camp for the Poznan Junior Challenge Cup 2003; however, he was not selected in the team to play in the tournament.

• In 2003 and 2005, Shivendra won the ‘Best Player’ at the Bombay Gold Cup.

• In 2005, Shivendra was selected by the team ‘Maratha Warriors’ to play in the first edition of the Premier Hockey League (PHL) which took place in Hyderabad and his team won the bronze medal of the tournament.

• In 2006, he participated in the second edition of the Premier Hockey League in Chandigarh which was a turning point of Shivendra’s career. After his performance in Chandigarh, he was selected for the Indian national hockey team.

• Shivendra never played in the age-group categories and was amongst the ones who made a direct entry into the senior national squad.

• In 2007, he took part in the seventh tournament of the Hockey Asia Cup which was held in Chennai. The Indian hockey team won the gold medal over Korea and won the tournament.

• In 2010, Shivendra Singh participated in the Commonwealth Games which were held in New Delhi and won the silver medal in the championship followed by the 2010 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in which India and Korea won the winning trophy collectively.

• In 2010, a three-match ban was imposed on Shivendra by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) for “deliberately” hitting a Pakistani player Fareed Ahmed during the first match of the 12th edition of the Men’s Hockey World Cup which was organized in New Delhi. He was accused of dangerous play and physical assault without causing serious injury. Shivendra’s team appealed against his suspension and the ban was brought down to two matches and not three. ^[6]NDTV Sports

• In 2012, Shivendra was bought for $27500 by the Punjab hockey team ‘Punjab Warriors’ to play in the Hockey Indian League (HIL) followed by the 2012 Olympic Games which were held in London.

  

• In 2019, he participated in the 82nd All India Scindia Gold Cup in which he represented the Air India hockey team.

• Shivendra’s elder brother and his wife are his biggest inspirations in life.

  

• In 2023, Shivendra was selected to be the assistant coach of the Indian Men’s hockey team for the 2022 Asian Games that took place in Hangzhou, China.

  

• He believed in always talking to his wife and family before going to the field for his match.

• Shivendra considered Indian hockey player Parattu Raveendran Sreejesh the most tough goalkeeper to score a goal from. Both the players are also very close friends.

  

• Shivendra’s gesture after scoring a goal was to always salute the audience and thank them for coming to see the match and uplifting the spirits of the players. Another reason for his salute was to pay his respect to the country.