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

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n professional

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. He played as a

fullback Fullback or Full back may refer to: Sports * A position in various kinds of football, including: ** Full-back (association football), in association football (soccer), a defender playing in a wide position ** Fullback (gridiron football), in Americ ...

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 ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...

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

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, 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 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, gold in the 2007 Asia Cup and silver in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

. 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 (HIL), known as the Coal India Hockey India League is a professional field hockey league in India. The league is organized by Hockey India, the governing body for the sport in India. HIL, along with the Indian Premier League, ...

, 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 (abbreviated as UPW) are a field hockey team based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh that plays in the Hockey India League. It is owned by Sahara India Pariwar. Former Dutch coach Roelant Oltmans serves as coach for the team an ...

. 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 * Olympic field hockey players of 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 Asian Games medalists in field hockey 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 Commonwealth Games silver medallists for India Commonwealth Games 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 {{India-fieldhockey-bio-stub