India thrashed Pakistan by 4-0 on August 9 (Wednesday) in the ongoing Asian Champions Trophy at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium in Chennai. Skipper Harmanpreet Singh was the star as he scored two goals while Akashdeep Singh and Jugraj scored a goal each to take India to a thumping victory. Harmanpreet won the Player of the Match award for his excellent show while one more player who impressed with his skills was Vivek Sagar Prasad who won the 'Best Young Player of the Match' award.
Here's all you need to know about Vivek Sagar Prasad:
Vivek Sagar Prasad is an accidental Hockey player. He and his brother were obsessed with Chess and used to play cricket and hockey a bit. But he was introduced to Hockey once by chance and ended up making his career in the sport.
Everything was going well for Vivek and was also a certainty to get picked in India's squad for Junior Hockey World Cup 2016. But his life took a cruel turn as the youngster sustained a life threatening injury. In a practice match, he was accidentally struck on the shoulder by a fellow player and it led to him breaking his collarbone. Vivek was rushed to a nearby hospital even as it was feared that his career was on the line. Due to some complications in the recovery, Vivek was also kept under observation in the ICU for three days.
However, Vivek and his family fought through the tough period and he was again back on the field in next three months. He made his comeback in the Junior team in 2017 and also led the team at the Sultan of Johor Cup.
Impressed by his exceptional skills, Vivek Sagar Prasad was called up to the senior Indian team in January 2018 and also made his international debut at an extremely young age of 17 years 10 months and 22 days. He became the second-youngest Indian ever to play for the country falling short of legend Sandeep Singh's record by just 11 days.
Vivek Sagar Prasad is only 23 years old at the moment and has already played 117 matches scoring a massive 19 goals for India.
Vivek Prasad is also being touted as the future captain of the Indian hockey team.
Vivek won FIH Men's Rising Star of the Year in 2019 and was later named FIH Young Player of the Year in 2021.
He was also honoured with Arjuna Award in 2021.
Apart from this, here are the list of medals that he has won at different tournaments:
Youth Olympic Games 2018 - Silver medal
Tokyo 2020 Olympics - Bronze medal
Commonwealth Games 2022 - Silver medal
Champions Trophy 2018 - Silver medal
Asian Games 2018 - Bronze Medal
