Muniswamy Rajgopal: Difference between revisions

{{short description|Indian field hockey player}}

{{Infobox field hockey player

| birth_date          = {{Birth date|1926|03|24|df=y}}

{{MedalSport|Men's [[field hockey]]}}

{{MedalCountry|{{fhm|India}}}}

{{MedalCompetition|[[Field hockey at the Summer Olympics|Olympic Games]]}}

{{MedalGold|[[1952 Summer Olympics|1952 Helsinki]]|[[Field hockey at the 1952 Summer Olympics|Team competition]]}}

}}

'''Muniswamy Rajgopal''' (24 March 1926 &ndash; 3 March 2004)<ref>{{cite web |title=March Birthday Listings |url=http://www.bharatiyahockey.org/janmadin/march.htm |publisher=bharatiyahockey.org |access-date=24 May 2022}}</ref> was an Indian [[field hockey]] player. He was a member of the [[India men's national field hockey team|Indian national team]] that won gold medal at the [[1952 Helsinki Olympics]]. He was from his home State of [[Mysore State|Mysore]] (now [[Karnataka]]) to win an Olympic medal.<ref name="dh1">{{cite web |last1=Chander |first1=N. J. Ravi |title=How I came to love hockey |url=https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/right-in-the-middle/how-i-came-to-love-hockey-864449.html |website=Deccan Herald |access-date=24 May 2022 |language=en |date=23 July 2020}}</ref>

Rajgopal was a versatile player and played as a [[Field hockey#Positions|wing forward]] or inside-right on either wings.<ref name="Malaya">{{cite news |title=INDIAN HOCKEY FED. TEAM ARRIVE TUESDAY |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19540203-1.2.177 |access-date=24 May 2022 |work=The Straits Times |date=3 February 1954 |page=13 |language=en-SG}}</ref><ref name="Malaya54">{{cite news |title=India hockey tourists establish their class |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19540215-1.2.142 |access-date=24 May 2022 |work=The Straits Times |date=15 February 1954 |page=12 |language=en-SG}}</ref> He was nicknamed 'the artful dodger' for his stickwork.<ref name="dh1"/> Rajgopal's contributions to hockey was recognized with Karnataka's [[Rajyotsava Award]] in 2000.<ref name="Manju"/>

A member of the Mysore team for 15 years from 1945 that competed in the national championships, Rajgopal was also an instrumental part of his employers' team, Hindustan Aircraft (now Hindustan Aeronautics). With the team, he won the [[Beighton Cup]] in 1951, defeating Pakistan's Lahore Bata 1–0 in the final. He toured East Africa twice, first with the undivided Indian team in 1945, and with the Indian team post-independence in 1947–48. He played alongside [[Dhyan Chand]] in the forward line for India and drew frequent comparisons to him from the press. He was called 'Dhyan Chand of the [[Deccan]]'. India scored 13 goals in the gold-medal winning campaign of the [[1952 Helsinki Olympics]] and teammate [[Balbir Singh Sr.]] remarked, "We couldn't have got many of the goals, but for the presence of Rajagopal."<ref name="Manju">{{cite book |last1=Raipalli |first1=Dr Manjunath Sahadevappa |title=A CASE STUDY ON CONTRBUTION OF KARNATAKA HOCKEY PLAYERS TOWARDS THE DEVELOPMENT OF INDIAN HOCKEY |isbn=978-1-387-71237-3 |pages=71–74 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GulVDwAAQBAJ |access-date=24 May 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

With the Indian team, Rajgopal also toured [[South India]] and [[Ceylon]] in 1947, Africa in 1952 and [[Indian field hockey team in Malaya and Singapore|Malaya and Singapore in 1954]].<ref name="Malaya"/> In the 1954 tour, he scored ten goals in 11 matches played.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Indians succeed in their mission |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19540311-1.2.189 |access-date=24 May 2022 |work=The Straits Times |date=11 March 1954 |page=14}}</ref> His game drew comparisons to [[Dhyan Chand]] and the Malayan press labeled him 'another Chand'.<ref name="Malaya54"/>

Known for his sharp hockey acumen, Rajgopal was also the coach of the State teams, in various age-groups on numerous occasions, the most notable among them the 1975 Junior Nationals triumph in Pune. He was also the coach of the national team in the inaugural Junior World Cup tournament held in Paris in 1979.<ref name="Manju"/>

== References ==