Who Is Namita Toppo? Hockey Midfielder Retires

Indian Hockey Team midfielder Namita Toppo announced her decision to retire on Thursday. The 27-year-old Toppo, who hails from the Sundargarh district of Odisha, has played professionally for over a decade. She announced her retirement through the official press release from the Indian Hockey League.

Namita Toppo, who has been part of over 168 international matches, has been a celebrated midfielder throughout her professional career. Toppo, the two-time Asian Games medalist, began her international career in 2012. She is also known for being a terrific team player.

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Who is Namita Toppo?

Namita Toppo hails from Odisha and was a resident of the Sports Hostel in Panposh, Rourkela. Toppo first represented the Odisha state team in the year 2007. Her ability and splendid performance in all domestic matches made her a valuable contender for further representation. Toppo was first selected for the Under-18 Hockey Asia Cup in 2011, held in Bangkok, Thailand. The Indian Team won the Bronze medal in that tournament.

Toppo's consistency throughout her performances in the domestic circuit got her through the senior team in 2012, when she was part of the team participating in the FIH Champions Challenge in Dublin. In 2013, as part of the junior team at the FIH Hockey Junior World Cup, she contributed to the team winning the Bronze medal. This was just the beginning of a glorious professional career for Toppo as she further went on to participate in championships including several Asian Games where the team won silver and bronze medals, Commonwealth Games, FIH Championships League, and the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The national coach of the Indian Women's Hockey team, Janneke Schopman, applauded Toppo's professionalism and mentioned her contribution not only as a player, but also as a mentor to youngsters in the team.

Hockey India Federation congratulated Toppo on her exemplary career mentioning how the two-time Asian Games medalist has made a humongous contribution to the game with her capability and humility.

Toppo, in her retirement letter released via Hockey India, said that she has been fortunate to represent her country over the past decade and is thrilled to witness the growth of Women's Hockey in the past ten years. She thanked her teammates, her coaches, the federation, the associated authorities, and the fans of the game across the country for pushing her to do better and perform to the best of her ability. Toppo mentioned that while she takes a step back from professional hockey, she would make it a point to be a constant follower of the game and root for the team's success forever.