Maneyapanda Muthanna Somaya (born 8 May 1959) is a former Indian

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

player and was employed with Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd. As a field hockey player, he was captain of the Indian national team and played as a halfback. He played in 3 Olympic Games in 1980, 1984 and 1988. He was a member of the Gold medal winning team in 1980 and captained the Indian team at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Somaya was a member of India squad that won the gold medal at the

1980 Moscow Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

. He went on to play in two more Olympic Games — the

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

, and the

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

, captaining the side in the latter event. Somaya had a successful corporate career after his playing days with

Bharat Petroleum Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) is an Indian central public sector undertaking under the ownership of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India. It operates three refineries in Bina, Kochi and Mumbai. BPCL is In ...

. In 2007, he was bestowed the Life Time Achievement award by the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board. He is also a recipient of

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjuna, one ...

Biography

Somaya studied at St. Mary's School in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

(then Bombay) and completed his college education in the city's

St. Xavier's College A multitude of schools and universities have been named after St. Francis Xavier, a Spanish Roman Catholic saint and co-founder of the Society of Jesus. This page lists notable educational institutions named after St. Xavier, arranged by country a ...

. He credited the "Jesuit system of education, where they place equal focus on sports, academics and extra-curricular activities" for his career in sports. He was picked in the national squad for the

. In 1983, for the Silver Jubilee 10-Nation Cup in Hong Kong, Somaya was named captain.He was also captain of the Indian team at the 1985 Asia Cup, Dhaka. He captained the team that won the Peugeot Cup, Nairobi, 1988 and also led the team in the drawn India-Pak series in 1988. Somaya's only goal in the

1986 World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-tea ...

came against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

in the group stage match. Somaya was employed with

(BPCL) during his playing days, and after retirement, went through several programs from institutions such as Indian School of Business,

Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a Private university, private Ivy League rese ...

and

Arthur D. Little Arthur D. Little is an international management consulting firm originally headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, founded in 1886 and formally incorporated in 1909 by Arthur Dehon Little, an MIT chemist who had discovered acetate. ...

. He retired in 2017 as executive director of BPCL's aviation fueling and lubricant businesses.

References

External links

* 1959 births Living people Olympic field hockey players for India Olympic gold medalists for India Field hockey players at the 1980 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 1984 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 1988 Summer Olympics Kodava people Recipients of the Arjuna Award People from Kodagu district Field hockey players from Karnataka Indian male field hockey players Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics Asian Games medalists in field hockey Field hockey players at the 1982 Asian Games Field hockey players at the 1986 Asian Games Asian Games silver medalists for India Asian Games bronze medalists for India Medalists at the 1982 Asian Games Medalists at the 1986 Asian Games Olympic medalists in field hockey {{India-fieldhockey-bio-stub

Biography

See also

References

External links