Social media outrage after Suhel Seth disrespects former Indian hockey captain Viren Rasquinha

Viren Rasquinha in his hockey prime

Viren Rasquinha was left stunned after spending a regular day speaking at the Times LitFest held in Mumbai, as famous TV pundit Suhel Seth chose to insult him by questioning his knowledge of sports. “Don't know what that bald guy was doing on a panel on sport, what’s he done?” Seth said on stage.

The former hockey player was at the event to give a speech about hockey and sport in general, and he received a huge round of applause from the audience after he was done. However, Seth was seemingly not impressed. The man, famous for going on rants against politicians, stepped on stage for another one of his infamous performances. Only this time, he was completely out of line.

Here is the video of Seth’s rant at the Times Litfest (rant at 51:10 minutes):

Rasquinha is the COO of the Olympic Gold Quest, which supports Indian athletes in their mission to win Olympic gold medals. As hockey captain, he led India to several victories and was a part of the team that won the silver medal at the 2002 Asian Games.

The 34-year-old also won the gold medal at the 2001 Junior World Cup, the 2003 Asia Cup and the 2003 Afro-Asias Games.

Rasquinha was extremely disappointed with the disrespect he received and tweeted about the incident.

Had an excellent session @TimesLitFest on the next big thing in sports. And an unfortunate encounter with an obnoxious Suhel Seth 1/5

— Viren Rasquinha (@virenrasquinha) December 7, 2014

As my session ended, Suhel Seth comes on stage and says "don't know what that bald guy was doing on a panel on sport, whats he done" 2/5

— Viren Rasquinha (@virenrasquinha) December 7, 2014

It's so disappointing when I am invited by the Times Lit fest to speak and get dissed on stage by a guy who doesn't even know who I am. 3/5

— Viren Rasquinha (@virenrasquinha) December 7, 2014

Even more disappointing to have the times lit fest director Bachchi Karkaria behave condescendingly. What's with these cosy clubs 4/5

— Viren Rasquinha (@virenrasquinha) December 7, 2014

I really do wonder though how Suhel Seth holds forth on everything under the sun and what exactly is his domain expertise 5/5

— Viren Rasquinha (@virenrasquinha) December 7, 2014

Suhel Seth later apologised to Rasquinha and LitFest for his actions.

Love the roasting I am getting on Twitter. Deservedly even though I had apologised on Twitter and written to Viren. pic.twitter.com/P6Y036x4qu

— SUHEL SETH (@suhelseth) December 7, 2014