Mumtaz Khan named FIH Rising Stars of the Year

Lausanne: The International Hockey Federation (FIH) on Tuesday revealed that India’s Mumtaz Khan has been named the FIH Rising Stars of the Year 2021-22 in the women’s category.
Timothée Clément of France has been named the FIH Rising Stars of the Year 2021-22 in the men’s category.
The field was closely packed at the top of FIH Rising Star of the Year category, as Mumtaz edged Belgium’s Charlotte Englebert by a margin of just 3 points.
Mumtaz finished with a total of 32.9 points with Englebert coming in second with 29.9 points. Luna Fokke from the Netherlands finished third with 16.9 points.
“I cannot believe that I have won this award. It is the hard work of our entire team over the year that has paid off, and I dedicate the win to my team,” Olympis.com quoted Mumtaz as saying.
“I feel the award is a sign that the hard work that I have put over the past year on the training grounds has helped me improve a lot as a player. But this is just the beginning of my career. I wish to continue the learning process and will continue the hard work to improve upon my game,” she added.
Mumtaz burst on to the international hockey scene almost out of nowhere in the FIH Junior Women’s World Cup 2022, thrilling hockey fans with her incredible style of play and an eye for scoring goals that cannot be taught.
She was the best performer for India in the Junior World Cup, scoring 8 times in 6 games. She also finished in third place on the list of top scorers in the World Cup, as India missed out on a bronze medal by a whisker finishing in the 4th place.
She failed to score in just one game throughout the tournament, against Netherlands. Mumtaz scored both the goals for India in the crucial 2-2 tie in the bronze medal match against England, but the team couldn’t get over the line in the ensuing shoot-out.
Hailing from Lucknow, Mumtaz started off her sporting career as a track athlete and it can be seen in her game as once she finds any semblance of space behind the opposition’s defense, she is impossible to catch.
Most of her goals in the World Cup came about in similar fashion as quick counters by the Indian team left opponents playing catch-up as Mumtaz burst through the ranks to go through on the goal.
She was also a part of the Indian team that played in the Hero FIH Hockey5s Lausanne 2022 and showcased her improving skills scoring 5 goals in 4 games, in very different conditions that limited her ability to exploit open spaces, as she instead relied on her shooting skills to find the back of the goal.
Mumtaz is the third Indian woman to win the award after Lalremsiami in 2019 and Sharmila Devi in 2020-21. (UNI)