Rui Saldanha
{{short description|British field hockey player}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox field hockey player
| name = Rui Saldanha
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1947|10|21|df=yes}}
| birth_place =
| death_date =
| death_place =
| height = 171 cm
| weight = 67 kg
| position = Right half
| years1 = 1966–1978
| clubs1 = Blackheath
| years2 = 1969–1970
| clubs2 = Durham University
| years3 = 1972
| clubs3 = Oxford University
| nationalyears1=
| nationalteam1 = Great Britain
| nationalcaps(goals)1 =
| nationalyears2=
| nationalteam2 = England
| nationalcaps(goals)2 =
| medaltemplates =
}}
Rui Ninnian Saldanha (born 21 October 1947) is a British field hockey player of Indian descent. He competed in the men's tournament at the 1972 Summer Olympics.{{cite Sports-Reference |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/sa/rui-saldanha-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418041706/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/sa/rui-saldanha-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=18 April 2020 |title=Rui Saldanha Olympic Results |accessdate=7 October 2019}}
Biography
Saldanha, originally from Saligao, India and of Goan ancestry, was educated at St Joseph's Boys' High School, Bengaluru{{cite web|url=https://www.sjbhs.edu.in/famous_old_boys.php|title=Eminent Old Boys & Girls |website=St Joseph's Boys' High School, Bengaluru |access-date=26 June 2025}} and spent time in Kenya, where he was selected for the Kenyan national hockey team.{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000271/19670921/523/0023 |title=U.A.U. hockey team for Crosby |work=Liverpool Echo |date=21 September 1967 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=22 June 2025}}{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002135/19690919/454/0018 |title=England are the underdogs |work=Birmingham Daily Post |date=19 September 1969 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=22 June 2025}}
When he came to England he joined Blackheath Hockey Club and studied medicine as a student at London Hospital Medical College. He graduated from Durham University (Hatfield College) with a degree in Economics and Psychology in 1971 – his academic finals having been delayed for one year because of his commitments with the England hockey team and his election as President of the Durham University Athletic Union (DUAU).{{cite journal |title=Results of Final Examinations held in June 1971 |journal=Durham University Gazette |date=1971 |issue=18 |page=13 |url=http://reed.dur.ac.uk/xtf/view?docId=bookreader/DU_Gazettes/DUGazette18_3/dg183METS.xml#page/12/mode/2up |accessdate=9 November 2019}}{{cite book |last1=Moyes |first1=Arthur |title=Be The Best You Can Be: A History of Sport in Hatfield College, Durham University |date=2007 |publisher=Hatfield College Trust |location=Durham |page=224}}
Saldanha then attended the University of Oxford and while there represented Great Britain at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/18853 |title=Biographical Information |website=Olympedia |access-date=26 June 2025}} Saldanha later competed for England at the 1978 Men's Hockey World Cup.{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002135/19780215/347/0012 |title=England select Taylor but Mallett waits |work=Birmingham Daily Post |date=15 February 1978 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=22 June 2025}}
In May 1989, Saldanha, now working for the New York Life Insurance Company at their office in Des Moines, Iowa, married Indian actress and former Miss India Persis Khambatta at the Polk County Courthouse.{{cite book |last1=Connelly |first1=Sherilyn |title=Presenting Persis Khambatta: From Miss India to Star Trek--The Motion Picture and Beyond |date=2021 |publisher=McFarland |page=155}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Great Britain FH Squad 1972 Summer Olympics}}
{{England FH Squad 1978 World Cup}}
External links
- {{sports links}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saldanha, Rui}}
Category:British male field hockey players
Category:Olympic field hockey players for Great Britain
Category:Field hockey players at the 1972 Summer Olympics
Category:Place of birth missing (living people)