Sunita Lakra (born 11 June 1991) is an Indian

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

player. Lakra has represented her country by being

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

in the

India women's national field hockey team The Indian women's national field hockey team (nicknamed the ''Nabhvarna'') represents India in international field hockey, and is governed by Hockey India. Nabhvarna are currently ranked 6th in the FIH World Rankings, and are ranked as the b ...

. Lakra announced her retirement from hockey through

Hockey India Hockey India plans, directs and conducts all the activities for both men and women hockey in India. It is recognized by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, Govt. of India as the sole body responsible towards promoting Hockey in India. It w ...

on 2 January 2020.

Early life

Lakra's father is a farmer. She was sent to join

Sports Authority of India The Sports Authority of India (SAI) is the apex national sports body of India, established in 1982 by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports of Government of India for the development of sports in India. SAI has 2 Sports Academic institution ...

(SAI) in Rourkela to learn hockey when she was six years old. In Lakra's community, most girls and boys take up football from an early age, but Lakra's father believed that football was a dangerous sport and trained his daughter in hockey. She married Deepak Toppo who works for Odisa Police Department .

Career

Sunita Lakra made her international debut in 2009, and has since then, cited as the backbone of the team. She was the part of the team in the 17th Asian Games and the Women's Hockey World League Round 2. India's clash against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in the Hawke's Bay Cup of 2015 marked the 50th international appearance of Lakra. She plays

defense Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense industr ...

in the team. Lakra completed her 100th international match with a match also against New Zealand in 2017, in the third match of the five match series. Lakra climbed the ladder of ranks in Indian hockey with significant performances at the 17th Asian Games and the

2016 Rio Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...

. She was also the part of the winning Indian side in the Asian Champions Trophy, in which the team won the final match against

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. In 2017 August, she was selected to be a part of the

's 15-day European tour starting 5 September 2017. Lakra was handed the responsibility to head the team as a captain in the Asian Champions Trophy women's hockey, which began at

Donghae City Donghae () is a city in Gangwon Province, South Korea. There are two major ports: Donghae Harbor and Mukho Harbor. The city is located on the Yeongdong Line railroad and the Donghae Expressway. Numerous caverns are found in the city, as in ne ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

in May 2018, and led the team to a second position. Lakra is a part of the 18 member squad which is playing in the 14th edition of the

Women's Hockey World Cup The Women's FIH Hockey World Cup is the field hockey World Cup competition for women, whose format for qualification and the final tournament is similar to the men's. It has been held since 1974. The tournament has been organized by the Internat ...

References

External links

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Sunita Lakra
at

1991 births Living people Indian female field hockey players 21st-century Indian women 21st-century Indian people Asian Games medalists in field hockey Asian Games silver medalists for India Asian Games bronze medalists for India Female field hockey forwards Field hockey players at the 2014 Asian Games Field hockey players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 2018 Asian Games Field hockey players at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Field hockey players from Odisha Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games Olympic field hockey players of India Sportswomen from Odisha Commonwealth Games competitors for India {{India-fieldhockey-bio-stub