Vokkaliga Ramachandra Raghunath (born 1 November 1988) is a former

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n professional

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

player. He played as a fullback and was known for his abilities as a

drag flick Drag flicking is a scoring technique in the sport of field hockey. It was first seen in the late 1980s in Australia. It is used as an attacking technique, mainly within penalty corner involving two main components known as the scoop and flick. The ...

er.

Early life

Raghunath was born on 1 November 1988 to a former Indian field hockey player V. S. Ramachandra and Doddamane Bojamma along with his two sisters, Niveditha Sanketh and Kavana Yatheesh.

Career

Raghunath made his debut for India in the sub-junior side in the 2003 sub-junior Asia Cup in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

that India won. He made his senior debut in the national side during the bi-lateral series in 2005 against

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, as a replacement to an injured

Sandeep Singh Sandeep Singh (born 27 February 1986) is an Indian professional field hockey player from Haryana and an ex-captain of the Indian national hockey team. He generally features as a full back and is a penalty corner specialist for the team. He ...

. He was a part of the Indian team that won bronze in the

2007 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup The 2007 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup was the 16th edition of field hockey tournament the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup. Participating nations Eight countries participated in the tournament: * * * * * * * * Fixtures and results ''All times are Malaysia Standard ...

, silver in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, gold in the 2007 Asia Cup and silver in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

. Having scored six goals in the 2013 Asia Cup, Raghunath was awarded the 'Best Player of the Tournament'.

Hockey India League

In the auction of the inaugural

Hockey India League Hockey India League is a professional field hockey league in India. It is organized by Hockey India, the governing body for the sport in India. It is considered one of the major sports leagues of the country. It was founded in 2013 as a part ...

, Raghunath was bought by the Uttar Pradesh franchise for US$76,000 with his base price being US$13,900. The team was named

Uttar Pradesh Wizards The Uttar Pradesh Wizards was an Indian professional field hockey team based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh that played in the Hockey India League. It was owned by Sahara India. Franchise details Ownership The team was owned by Sahara Adventure Sp ...

. He captained the team to a third-place finish in the inaugural season. He ended the first season having scored 9 goals in 14 games and the second season scoring 8 goals in 12 games.

References

External links

V. R. Raghunath
at

Hockey India Hockey India plans, directs and conducts all the activities for both men's and women's field hockey in India. It is recognized by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India as the sole body responsible towards promoting the ...

* Olympic field hockey players for India Field hockey players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 2016 Summer Olympics 1988 births Living people Field hockey players from Karnataka People from Kodagu district Field hockey players at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Field hockey players at the 2006 Asian Games Field hockey players at the 2014 Asian Games Indian male field hockey players Asian Games gold medalists for India Asian Games field hockey players for India Commonwealth Games silver medallists for India Commonwealth Games field hockey players for India Commonwealth Games silver medallists in field hockey Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games Recipients of the Arjuna Award 2006 Men's Hockey World Cup players 2014 Men's Hockey World Cup players Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Asian Games gold medalists in field hockey {{India-fieldhockey-bio-stub