Harmanpreet Singh scored his 250th goal for India on Wednesday, becoming only the second Indian to reach the mark in senior international hockey. The captain reached the figure with a penalty corner in the ninth minute of the semi-final against South Korea in Mohali, and India won the match 8-1.
Hockey India marked the goal with a post on social media that read: “250 international goals for Sarpanch Sahab! Captain Harmanpreet Singh reaches a phenomenal milestone, bringing up his 250th senior international goal during India’s emphatic 8-1 semi-final victory over Korea in Mohali.” The tally follows Hockey India’s records for the captain’s senior international goals.
The goal put Harmanpreet Singh second on India’s all-time scoring list, behind only Major Dhyan Chand, who scored 570 goals for India. He moved past Balbir Singh Sr, whose tally of 246 goals had stood as the mark to beat among Indian players after Dhyan Chand. Harmanpreet Singh passed that figure earlier in the tournament, with his second goal in a hat-trick against Malaysia on 1 November, in a match India won 4-2.
The semi-final itself was settled early. Shilanand Lakra scored twice in the first 13 minutes, and Dilpreet Singh added two more before the break. Harmanpreet Singh scored from a penalty corner in the ninth minute, Sukhjeet Singh scored in the 21st minute, Angad Bir Singh added one in the 36th minute, and Vivek Sagar Prasad completed the scoring in the 54th minute. India led from the fourth minute and never looked in danger of losing the match.
South Korea had no answer once India scored early. The hosts kept the ball in the Korean half for long spells, and the penalty corner count kept rising as the match went on. The 8-1 scoreline matched India’s dominance across the tournament, in which the hosts had scored freely in every match they played.
India reached the semi-final unbeaten. The hosts opened with a 13-0 win over Bangladesh, beat China 5-2, and beat Malaysia 4-2 in the league stage in Jalandhar before moving to Mohali for the knockouts. The tournament began on 27 October, with the league stage in Jalandhar and the semi-finals and final in Mohali.
Harmanpreet Singh and the penalty corner
The 250th goal came from the part of the game Harmanpreet Singh has made his own. He is India’s penalty corner specialist and its drag-flicker, and most of his goals have come from set pieces rather than open play. The ninth-minute strike was a penalty corner conversion, the kind of goal that has carried India’s scoring for years. He has played 284 senior internationals for India, and the goals have come at a rate few defenders in world hockey can match.
The captain has led India through a run of team success as well as personal milestones. He captained the side to the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics in 2024, and he has been the team’s first choice for penalty corners through the last two Olympic cycles. The 250-goal mark adds a personal record to that record as captain.
What 250 goals means for Harmanpreet Singh
The number puts Harmanpreet Singh in company no other Indian player of the modern game has reached. Dhyan Chand’s 570 goals came in a different era, when India played far more matches against weaker opposition, and no Indian since has come close to that figure. The gap between 250 and 570 is still wide, but the 250 mark is a record for the modern game, and it came in a semi-final India won by seven goals.
The exact figure has been debated, because Hockey India and the International Hockey Federation hold different records for the captain’s goals. Hockey India put the number at 250 after the semi-final, and that is the figure the team celebrated in Mohali.
Harmanpreet Singh takes India into the final
India won the semi-final 8-1, and the captain left the field with 250 international goals to his name. The win took India into the final against Japan, played in Mohali on Thursday evening.