Vikram Singh has created a history in the Indian sports fraternity silently. He has been selected by the Paris Olympics Organizing Committee to work as the Competition Coordinator in the forthcoming Paris Olympics, scheduled to be held from 26th July to 11th August this year. 

Vikram will be looking after both men’s and women’s hockey tournaments to be held at Yves-du-Manoir Stadium. He will be in charge of the stadium. 

Interestingly, Yves-du-Manoir Stadium which has a capacity of 15 thousand spectators to watch the matches was the main venue for the eighth Olympiad in 1924, staging Opening Ceremony and athletics events. The stadium has been renovated several times and is the only venue to stage the second Olympics events in 2024, hosting hockey competitions. 

Vikram who is scheduled to leave the country on Sunday night for Paris sounded jubilant while speaking over the phone from his home in Ahmadabad. "It will be a great platform for me to deliver my best. I had to pass some examinations and interviews which were very tough. I am thankful to the Paris Olympics Organizing Committee for ultimately selecting me as the Competition Coordinator for the hockey in the Paris Olympics."

The 34-year-old Chemical Engineer has been passionate about sport since his childhood. He was brought up in a sport-loving environment. His father was a handball coach at the Sports Authority of India (SAI). He was also a national handball coach.

Vikram participated in several games like badminton, and basketball, at the national level in his early days. He also played hockey during his University days. 

Vikram divulged, “I worked as Hockey India’s one of the volunteers in the competition managing department in a competition held at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in 2012. Then in the same year, I was offered by Hockey India to join as its permanent employee. I did not look back. I joined as Officer Coordination and finally got promoted to Senior Manager Competitions and Development.” 

As the Senior Manager of Competitions and Development Vikram was in charge of conducting several major international competitions held in India during his 11-year tenure. That included four World Cups, two Junior World Cups, and two Senior World Cups. Simultaneously, Vikram used to create structure, and plans, and help the respective organisers to stage the country’s major club competitions like Beighton Cup smoothly. He also used to look after the conducting of the Hockey India League.

However, the most significant contribution to Indian hockey made by Hockey India under Vikram's leadership was to introduce Indian coaches' education programs. 

Vikram explained, "The Hockey Coaching education system was introduced in 2019. Around 1500 Indian coaches attended the programs where they were guided by High-Performance Director David John and around 400 coaches qualified to receive coaching accreditation from the federation those who got Hockey India's accreditation, also attended international coaching courses and we were able to organise those international coaches' course in India, for the first time so that Indian coaches would not have to spend a lot of money to acquire international coach's certificates."

Before leaving Hockey India in 2023, Vikram felt the year was a game-changer for him as Hockey India conducted the Wold Cup in two venues in Rourkela and Bhubaneswar and under my leadership, the Competition Committee staged the tournament successfully. Vikram feels while going through his experience, the successful staging of this tournament might have impressed the Olympic Committee more. 

Vikram who has joined TransStadia Pvt. Ltd after leaving Hockey India last year, has a desire to provide advanced knowledge on hockey infrastructure for the schools, the clubs, and the federation and state associations.

The engineer who has already made Hockey India proud concluded, “TransStadia owns a unique stadium in Ahmadabad. It has a Fifa-approved full-sized football ground along with seven sports academies and all other state-of-the-art infrastructural facilities.”

He added, "I want to contribute to the hockey fraternity by providing advanced knowledge on infrastructure, especially on the Astroturf. Hockey has given me everything. I want to pay back something."