Born on 1st January 1953, Debendranath Sarangi joined India’s premier civil service in 1977 after qualifying through competitive examination. After a long 35 years of service occupying various important positions in the higher echelons involving decision making, he retired as the civil service head in the southern Indian state of Tamilnadu in 2012. Post retirement, Sarangi has joined a few Boards of well-known Indian companies as a Director.

Sarangi played squash at college level. His deep interest in and commitment to the sport helped him to shoulder the responsibility of  Sports Administrator. He became the President of Squash Racket Federation of India in 2015 and still continues in this position. He was elected as the Vice President of Asian Squash Federation for the period 2017-2021 and as a Member to the Ethics Commission of World Squash Federation for the period 2017-2021.

Besides squash, Sarangi has been a sitting Member of the Ethics Committee of Asian Swimming Federation and  Olympic Council of Asia. He is also the Chairman of Audit Committee in FINA ( International Swimming Federation) for the period 2017-2021.