Viren Rasquinha

Former Captain of the Indian National Hockey Team

About

Viren Rasquinha, one of the biggest stars of Indian Hockey, is an Olympian and the former captain of the Indian Hockey team. He is the Director and CEO of Olympic Gold Quest, a not-for-profit foundation dedicated to helping Indian athletes win Olympic Gold medals.

Viren made his junior international debut in 1999 and was a member of the winning team in the 2001 Junior World Cup in Hobart, Australia. He made his senior international debut as a midfielder in May 2002, at a Four Nation Tournament in Adelaide.

He has played 180 international matches for the Indian hockey team in a career spanning from 2002 till he retired in January 2008.

While playing hockey for the country, he also served as the assistant director of human resource development for the Indian Oil Corporation Limited.

After his retirement, Viren pursued management studies at the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, and has a dual major in Marketing and Strategy. Post his MBA he joined Olympic Gold Quest in 2009.

Viren has played 180 international matches and also led Maratha Warriors in the Premier Hockey League. He has also played for Air India, Indian Oil Corporation, and Tata Sports.

After the 2016 Olympics, Viren joined PMO Task Force as a member along with Pullela Gopichand and Abhinav Bindra and charted plans for the next 3 Olympic games to be held in 2020, 2024, and 2028.

Popular Speaking Topics:

Equal opportunities in sports
Motivation
Learning from Defeat
High Objectives
Teamwork
Adapting to adversity

Awards and Accomplishments

Viren received the ‘Shiv Chhatrapati Award’ from the Government of Maharashtra in 2004.
He was awarded the ‘Arjuna Award’ for Best Sportsman of the Year in Hockey in 2005.
He was named one of the ‘Top 40 Under 40’ leaders in India for 2017-18 by the Economic Times.

Why Viren Rasquinha ?

Popularly known as one of the biggest stars of the Indian Hockey team, Viren Rasquinha is an enthusiastic successful personality. From a visibly defensive game to improving his attacking skills as a midfielder, he has proved his mettle as one of the best athletes in the country.

Viren has been at the forefront and worked hard to improve sports facilities in India and has sponsored hundreds of sports. He has delivered talk on TEDx about providing equal opportunities in sports, and has spoken for the likes of McKinsey Knowledge Centre, IBM, Edelweiss Capital and more.