When a teenaged Dilpreet Singh made his international debut nearly eight years ago in 2018, he was touted as the next big thing in Indian hockey.
Over the next few years, Dilpreet was a vital cog in the wheel for the then Manpreet Singh-led side and even scored twice during India’s historic bronze medal winning run at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
However, he fell out of favour soon after. Just the next year, he was dropped from the team altogether. Despite his world class poaching skills inside the shooting circle, fitness remained a major cause of concern for Dilpreet.
He struggled to get proper game time as he fell down the pecking order, missing the 2024 Paris Olympics and the 2023 home World Cup among other major events.
“It was disappointing to train hard and still not be able to play,” Dilpreet told The Bridge, reflecting on that three-year period when he found himself out of the national team.
It was only last year as India started building towards the new-Olympic cycle and the 2026 FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup that Dilpreet returned to the fold. He played a majority of the Pro League matches last year and also featured in India’s successful run at the 2025 Asia Cup and the 2025 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup.
“It is a very difficult situation for any player when they don’t get to play tournaments. But I had one thought in mind: as long as I am here, I will continue to work hard and not worry about whether the coach would pick me or what the selection criteria was,” he added.
The hard yards put in the training sessions paid off as he scored thrice in the Pro League once in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup and netted four goals including a brace in the final of the 2025 Asia Cup, which India clinched to qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
When asked if the Dilpreet of old is back, he said with a chuckle: “You can say that.”
“For a while, I was getting only occasional matches in the Pro League, which created a lot of pressure to perform immediately in limited chances. After getting two full tournaments recently (Sultan Azlan Shah and Asia Cup) and performing well, I can say I am gradually coming back,” he added.
The fact that he remained among the core group of players despite being dropped from the team helped. He had a detailed plan to follow.
“My main issue was that I was unfit,” he said. “When I started working towards it, I picked up an injury which once again set me back.
“Once the injury healed completely, I started to work towards improving my fitness again. I was given a separate schedule to follow individually along with the team training.
“It detailed everything from how much running I have to do even on rest days to what I have to eat. Even when I went home, I remained strict with the schedule I had to follow and left the rest to the coach’s discretion,” he added.
A lot wiser now, the 26-year-old Dilpreet vows to never lose his fitness. He stresses on controlling the controllables and not thinking about the rest.
“My main focus is to stay fit and quickly master our team structure, both with and without the ball, so that I don’t struggle on the field,” asserted Dilpreet, as he looks to make up for the lost time.
“My goal is to keep working hard and never be unfit again. Then whatever God intends will happen,” he added.
Dilpreet Singh will next be in action at the 2026 Hockey India League for the Kalinga Lancers before he shifts the focus towards the 2026 FIH Men’s World Cup and the 2026 Asian Games.
