India's Namita Toppo completes 150 international caps in hockey

Indian Women's Hockey Team held to 1-1 draw by hosts England in their opening match of the Vitality Hockey Women's World Cup London on Saturday, July 21, 2018. ( Courtesy: PTI)

NEW DELHI: The Indian women hockey team`s opening match of the London World Cup 2018 against hosts England saw Indian midfielder Namita Toppo acheive the milestone of 150 international caps for the country.

The 23-year-old from Odisha made her international debut for the senior team in the FIH Champions Challenge I in Dublin in the year 2012 aged just 17.

Namita expressed her delight at completing 150 international caps for the national team. She said, 

"I feel extremely proud to have represented the nation for 150 International matches. For me, it is just a start as I am quite young and I look forward to playing many more games for the country. It is a promising phase for Women`s hockey in India and it is important for us to perform well and keep winning trophies to make the fans proud of our team."

Namita is a product of the Sports Hostel, Panposh, Rourkela which is located in her native state of Odisha. 

The young midfielder first represented her state team in 2007 and her performances in the domestic competitions saw her getting selected for the Girls U-18 Hockey Asia Cup in Bangkok, Thailand held in 2011 where the Indian team won the Bronze Medal.

Toppo`s hard work and dedication in the national camps and consistent performances in the domestic circuit saw her getting selected to represent the senior team in 2012 when she participated in the FIH Champions Challenge I in Dublin.

The next year saw the youngster being a part of the Indian junior women`s hockey team which won the Bronze Medal at the FIH Hockey Junior World Cup Women 2013 held in Monchengladbach, Germany.

Namita has since then participated in major tournaments like FIH Women`s World League Round 2 held in New Delhi in 2013 where India won the Gold Medal, 3rd Women`s Asian Champions Trophy in 2013 where India won the Silver Medal, 8th Women`s Asia Cup 2013, 2014 Commonwealth Games held in Glasgow, 17th Asian Games 2014 where India won the Bronze Medal, 2016 Rio Olympics and the most recent being the team`s Silver medal victory at the 9th Women`s Asia Cup 2017 held in South Korea.

On a related note, India went on to play out a 1-1 draw against England.