Sandeep Singh is an Indian professional field hockey player from Haryana and an ex-captain of the Indian national team. He generally features as a full back and is a penalty corner specialist for the team. He was famous as Flicker Singh in media. Singh currently holds a DSP rank in the Haryana Police.
Sandeep Singh scored the most goals and won the Man of the Tournament award in the 2009 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup. Scoring 16 goals, Singh was the leading goal scorer in the qualifying tournament for the 2012 London Olympics.
’The success of failing in one competition doesn’t define you, and that is one thing that any sports would teach you,”
‘’Success is not final; failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts’’
He belongs to a Punjabi Saini family from Haryana. His father name is Gurcharan Singh Bhinder and his mother is Daljit Kaur Bhinder. Both always supported him to play hockey for the nation.
He has an elder brother who is also a hockey player named, Bikramjeet Singh. His elder brother known by his field name “Monty Singh.”
He married to an Indian hockey player, Harjinder Kaur after dating her for a long time.
Sandeep Singh Bhinder started his career in the field hockey at the age of seventeen. He is the Ex-Captain of the Indian National Team. He generally plays the full-back position in field hockey and is a penalty corner specialist for the team.
He is also known as Flicker Singh in the media. As he drags flicks the field hockey ball at the speed of 145km/h. He currently holds the position of DPS (Deputy Superintendent of Police) in the Haryana Police Department.
He is also known as Flicker Singh in the media. As he drags flicks the field hockey ball at the speed of 145km/h. He currently holds the position of DPS (Deputy Superintendent of Police) in the Haryana Police Department.
Specialties of Sandeep Singh are the ultimate shot that gets a definite goal. They are known as the Best drag-flicker. He can understand the gameplay of the offending team and thus plans his defense accordingly. He is also best at the penalty corner and is capable to defend the opposing team. He is very much talented in passing the ball.
Singh encountered a tragic incident in his life. The tragic incident happened on August 22, 2006, when a Railway police official was checking his service revolver and accidentally fired a shot while the train was nearing the Ambala station. Unfortunately, the bullet pierced through Sandeep Singh’s back.
Though he recovered, it wasn’t an easy journey for Sandeep to get back into the Indian team. However, Sandeep kept pushing and pushing until the 2008 Sultan Azlan Shah Tournament got him his second chance on the turf and he gave it everything. He scored 8 goals in that tournament and became the top scorer.
From that point on, there was nothing that stopped Sandeep. Soon after India won that tournament, he was named Captain of the national hockey squad of India. He once again took his side to play the Sultan Azlan Shah Tournament in 2009.
In 2013, as the Hockey India League was launched, Sandeep Singh became the fifth highest-paid marquee player bought by the Mumbai franchise, Mumbai Magicians. He was bought for USD 64,400. He proved his worth by scoring 11 goals from 12 appearances in the inaugural tournament and became the top scorer for the event.
Talking about his real-life heroes, he says, “As was shown in ‘Soorma’, for me, my father and brother have been my heroes. My father taught me to never give up and the way my brother supported me and stood by me, no one else could have done that.” Be it sports biopic or people from the sports fraternity being invited to be part of popular TV shows, Singh says that he is happy to see that sportsmen from different sports (not just cricket) are getting recognition.
Sandeep Singh has been retired from field hockey since 2004 due to a back injury. He is now eager to take up the mentor’s role for youngsters wanting to master the art of Drag-flicking.