Umpire Nepoleon Singh has been promoted to international outdoor umpire by the International Hockey Federation (FIH), Hockey India (HI) announced on Friday.
FIH took the decision after seeing the 30-year-old's performance in the recently concluded 12th South Asian Games 2016, held at Guwahati from February 5-16.
Nepoleon started his career as an umpire from Manipur in the 3rd Hockey India Junior Women National Championship 2013 held at Ranchi. From there on he never looked back and was a regular umpire to officiate in all the major tournaments conducted under the aegis of Hockey India.
His first major breakthrough was his appointment as umpire in the 8th Junior Men Asia Cup, held at Kuantan, Malaysia in 2015. Based on this performance he was appointed to the 12th South Asian Games in 2016.
Nepoleon was a national level hockey player and completed a Diploma in Sports Coaching from the National Institute of Sports (NIS), Patiala in 2011. He is presently working as a coach at Kokrajhar, Assam.
"It is a proud moment for me to achieve the landmark of International Umpire and I am thankful to FIH & Hockey India for the recognition," Napoleon said in a release.
Nepoleon is among those young umpires from India who have recently been upgraded to international level outdoor umpire. With Nepoleon added to the elite league of international umpires from India, a total of 14 Indian umpires (10 men and four women) are now in the category of International level umpires and would be appointed to officiate FIH tournaments around the world.
HI congratulated Nepoleon on the promotion.
"This is another achievement of Hockey India as we not only produce the best international players, but also international level umpires. Nepoleon is very professional about his work and his consistent hard work has paved the way for this reward," HI secretary general Mohd Mushtaque Ahmad said.
"Hockey India feels proud of the young umpire's achievements and we congratulate Nepoleon for this new feat. Hockey India wishes him good luck for his future."
