Background
Singh hails from Shahabad town in Kurukshetra, Haryana, and was born to Gurcharan Singh Saini and Daljit Kaur Saini.
Singh hails from Shahabad town in Kurukshetra, Haryana, and was born to Gurcharan Singh Saini and Daljit Kaur Saini.
He generally features as a full back and is a penalty corner specialist for the team Singh currently holds a Digital signal processing rank in the Haryana Police. International hockey Singh"s international debut was in January 2004 in Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Kuala Lumpur.
He took over as the captain of the Indian national team in January 2009, and Rajpal Singh succeeded him later in 2010.
Singh is a well known drag-flicker. At a time he was said to have the best speed in the world in drag flick (speed 145 km/h).
Under his captaincy, the Indian team managed to clinch the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in 2009 after defeating Malaysia in the finals at Ipoh. Singh was also the top goal scorer of the tournament The India men"s national field hockey team have qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London after a gap of 8 years.
The team had a resounding victory over France in the finals of the Olympic qualifiers by beating France 8–1.
Ace drag-flicker Singh starred in the final against France by scoring five goals – including a hat-trick – all from penalty corners (19th, 26th, 38th, 49th and 51st minutes). Singh was the highest scorer of the Olympic qualifiers tournament by scoring 16 goals. Club career Sandeep Singh became the fifth highest-paid marquee player at the inaugural Hockey India League auctions as the Mumbai franchise bought him for United States dollar 64,400 with his base price being United States dollar 27,800.
The Mumbai team has been named Mumbai Magicians.
Scoring 11 goals in 12 games, Singh emerged as the top scorer in the first edition of the league. In 2014, he was signed by Punjab Warriors.
After playing two seasons for the team, he was signed by Ranchi Rays for United States dollar 81,000 in 2015 starting 2016. In 2014, Singh relocated to the United Kingdom to play for Havant Hockey Club.
On 22 August 2006, Singh was seriously injured after being hit by an accidental gunshot in Shatabadi train, while on his way to join the national team due to leave for the World Cup in Germany two days later.
He was almost paralysed and on wheel chair for two years of his life. Singh not only recovered from that serious injury, but also established himself again in the team