Vasudevan Baskaran is a former hockey

Field hockey

Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...

 player from India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. He captained the Indian team

India national field hockey team

The India national field hockey team is the national men's team representing field hockey in India. It is the first non-European team to be a part of the International Hockey Federation....

, which won the gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics

1980 Summer Olympics

The 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated in Moscow in the Soviet Union. In addition, the yachting events were held in Tallinn, and some of the preliminary matches and the quarter-finals of the football tournament...

 in Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

, Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

.

Career

After Olympic gold win as a player, Baskaran coached the Indian National Team several times, the last time at the 2006 Men's Hockey World Cup

2006 Men's Hockey World Cup

The 2006 Hockey World Cup for men is the 11th edition of the Hockey World Cup. It held from September 6 to September 17, 2006 in Mönchengladbach, Germany....

 in Mönchengladbach

Mönchengladbach

Mönchengladbach , formerly known as Münchengladbach, is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located west of the Rhine half way between Düsseldorf and the Dutch border....

, where India finished in a disappointing eleventh place.

Awards

He was awarded Arjuna Award

Arjuna award

The Arjuna Awards were instituted in 1961 by the government of India to recognize outstanding achievement in National sports. The award carries a cash prize of 500,000, a bronze statuette of Arjuna and a scroll....

in (1979–1980) for his brilliant performance as a player in Olympic Games.