Raghu Prasad

Raghu Prasad (born 1978) is an Olympic Games panel field hockey umpire from India. He officiated in three Summer Olympic games, four senior World Cups, two Asian Games and one Commonwealth Games. He was named as the International Hockey Federation's (FIH) Male Umpire of the Year for 2025.

Early life and background Prasad is from Bengaluru, Karnataka. He started playing hockey in Class 6 but his parents wanted him to become a cricketer. He played for Bharat Electronics Limited Colony Youth Association hockey club and former India star Sandeep Michael was his club mate. His first coach was Prakash VR. He studied engineering. He chose hockey leaving a prospective civil aviation career to focus on umpiring. He started his umpiring career with Karnataka State Hockey Association in 1999 officiating the club and state-level matches. His followed his mentor Kannan Krishnamurthy of KSHA, who is also a former international hockey umpire. He began with inter-school and inter-collegiate matches. At 24 years, he made his international debut as an umpire at the Hockey Australia Challenge Cup, a four-nations tournament in Australia in 2003. He also blew the whistle for two Asian Games in 2018 and 2022 and one Commonwealth Games in 2014.

Hockey India and its president and former international Dilip Tirkey congratulated him on winning the FIH award. He is set to become the first Asian umpire to officiate in 200 international matches at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup tournament 2025 in Malaysia, according to FIH.

He completed 100 senior caps at Fintro Hockey World League in Antwerp and became the third Indian to do so after Satinder Kumar and Javed Shaikh.

Awards

2015: Golden Whistle Award. 2025: FIH Male Umpire of the year.