Former Indian Hockey Team Captain Viren Rasquinha talked to students at the GITAM (Deemed to be University) Hyderabad campus as part of the varsity’s popular ‘Changemakers’ series. Rasquinha, who received the Arjuna Award for Best Sportsman of the Year in Hockey in 2005, feels that sport is an excellent vehicle for teaching values such as collaboration, equality, discipline, inclusivity, perseverance, respect, and fairness to all. The conversation was conducted by Smita Sharma, a journalist and Visiting Faculty at the Kautilya School of Public Policy.
Rasquinha highlights the triumph of Leander Paes in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics as a significant time in his life while recounting his growing-up days in Mumbai’s bylanes, the cricket and hockey grounds at his school, and being taught by an Olympian. “I was only a youngster when I decided I wanted to play for India, captain the Indian hockey team, and compete in the Olympics,” he explained. “I consider myself fortunate to have gone on to accomplish all of this.”
Rasquinha was a member of the 2004 Olympic team that participated in Athens. He left international hockey at the age of 28 to pursue business studies. He is currently the MD and CEO of Olympic Gold Quest.
“In sports, you lose more than you win.” That is the most challenging component. Sports have taught me the most crucial lesson of all: how to rebound from failure. “Learning from defeat is far more important than learning from victory,” the athlete said, echoing his credo, “Be the greatest, not the second best.” Even if you are second best, you must keep raising the bar.”
