New Delhi, Jan 18 (IANS) The International Hockey Federation (FIH) Saturday named Germany’s Tobias Hauke as the men’s Player of the Year for 2013 at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium here.
The defensive midfielder received his award from FIH executive board member Alberto Budeisky at a special presentation ceremony held during the halftime of the summit clash of the Hockey World League final.
“I’m completely overwhelmed. This makes me really proud and I would like to thank my team as this achievement would not have been possible without them. I’m a team player and I love playing in a team sport,” said the 26-year-old Hauke.
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“This award means a lot to me personally but of course our titles at the Hockey World League Semifinal in Johor Bahru and the TriFinance Euro Hockey Nations Championships in Boom, Belgium, are as important.”
Hauke is the second successive German to be crowned the world’s best player, following in the footsteps of 2012 winner and fellow midfielder Moritz Furste.
He was a central figure in the teams that won Olympic gold at both Beijing 2008 and London 2012 and now is one of only two players to win both the senior and junior FIH Player of the Year awards along with Australia’s Jamie Dwyer.
The FIH Talent of the Year also went to a German, 19-year-old Christopher Ruhr, succeeding from 2012 title holder Florian Fuchs.
