From Roger Federer to Serena Williams and Sebastian Vettel to Ashleigh Barty, this year has seen the retirement of many players across all sports.
Here is a list of 15 Indian stars and legends who hung up their shoes in 2022 for various reasons:
#1 Ajay Jayaram, Badminton
Ajay Jayaram is an Indian badminton player from Chennai. He won several medals at the Dutch Open between 2010 and 2016, was a runner-up at the BWF Superseries (2015), won a bronze medal at the Asian Team Championships (2016), was a runner-up at the BWF World Tour (2018), and has numerous podium finishes at various BWF International Challenges and Series. He plays in the Premier Badminton League for the Mumbai Rockets.
He retired from badminton earlier this year on March 26 to pursue an MBA.
#2 Jhulan Goswami, cricket
Jhulan is a well-known name in the women’s cricket arena. The moderately fast right-arm, right-hand hitting bowler is one of the fastest female bowlers of all time and considered one of the greatest in the sport. She played 204 ODIs and holds the record for most wickets in women’s ODIs, with 255 to her name. On 12 March 2022, she became the highest wicket taker at the Women’s World Cup, overtaking Lyn Fullston.
She announced her retirement from international cricket in September 2022 after a long and illustrious career.
#3 Kamala Devi, Football
Indian women’s national team midfielder Yumnam Kamala Devi made his debut in 2010 and scored 33 goals in 36 appearances. She played for Gokulam Kerala in the Indian Women’s League (2020) and won the competition, also represented the railway team in the senior national championships. She was an integral part of the squad that won gold at the South Asian Games in 2010 and 2016. The Indian Football Federation (AIFF) honored her with the Women’s Footballer of the Year award in 2017 .
She announced her retirement in February 2022, following India’s exit from the AFC Women’s Asian Cup.
#4 Karuna Jain, cricket
Karuna Jain is a striker and wicketkeeper from Bengaluru who has eight 50s and a century in Women’s ODIs and over 1100 runs from WODIs and Tests. During her Test career, she had 17 dismissals, which was second only to Anju Jain’s 23. In the ODIs and T20s, she has 58 and 12 dismissals respectively.
She announced her retirement from all forms of cricket in July 2022.
#5 Manjit Singh, Athletics
Manjit Singh is an Indian middle-distance runner, who won the men’s 800 meters gold medal for India after 36 years at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta. He announced his retirement from the tracks in April 2022 on the penultimate day of the 25th National Federation Cup Senior Athletics Championships at the University of Calicut.
“I can not stand it anymore. I have to take the call because my body can no longer take the strain of competitions due to injuries. This is not a decision made in anger; this has been playing in my mind for quite a long time. I did my job pretty well and I’m proud of my achievements,” Manjit, 33, told The Bridge after the race.
#6 Mithali Raj
Former India women’s national cricket team captain, Mithali Raj broke and set several records, received several national and international laurels and set a benchmark for women’s cricket as a whole. She is dubbed “Lady Tendulkar of Indian Women’s Cricket” as she currently leads the scorer charts in all formats, Tests, ODI and T20. She received the Arjuna Award (2003), Padma Shri (2015), BBC 100 Women (2017), Wisden Leading Woman Cricketer in the World (2017) and Khel Ratna (2021).
On June 8, 2022, she announced her retirement from all formats of international cricket.
#7 Namita Toppo, Hockey
Namita Toppo, an Indian field hockey player who made her debut in the state in 2007, continued with the women’s U-18 Asian Cup team that won bronze, entered the team senior with the FIH Champions Challenge in Dublin in 2012 and has represented India in over 150 matches.
The midfielder announced his retirement from his ten-year career earlier in September.
#8 Nirmal Chettri, Football
Nirmal Chettri is an Indian footballer who started his football career in 2000. He played for many teams during his senior career, won caps for India youth team at U17 and U23 levels, was capped for the Indian U23 team which participated in the 2009 SAFF Championship and made his senior international debut in the 2011 SAFF Championship. He was part of the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup squad.
He retired from professional football last month.
#9 Om Praksh Singh Karhana, lancer du poids
Om Prakash Singh is an Indian shot putter. Originally a basketball player, he switched to shot put when he was approached by Lalit Bhanot, secretary of the Indian Athletics Federation. He holds the national record of 20.69 meters, which he achieved in May 2012 in Hungary. He competed at the 2012 London Olympics and finished sixth at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
The former Olympian announced his retirement in May 2022.
# 10 Rahul Sharma, cricket
The right-footed and wide-legged bowler has been a member of the Punjab cricket team since 2006 and came into the limelight after outstanding performances in the IPL 2011. He made his ODI debut in 2011 against the West Indies and their T20 debut in 2012 against Australia.
In August 2022, Rahul decided to retire from all formats of the game in order to compete in the Road Safety World Series, 2nd Edition.
#11 RMV Gurusai Dutt, Badminton
Another Gopichand Badminton Academy product, Gurusai Dutt won bronze at BWF World Junior Championships 2008, Netherlands Junior International 2008, gold at CWG 2008, silver at South Asian Games 2010, gold at the 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games, bronze at the 2014 CWG in Glasgow and numerous medals at the BWF International Challenges.
He announced his retirement from badminton in June 2022.
#12 Robin Uthappa, Cricket
Robin Uthappa is a former Indian cricketer who played for Kerala in domestic cricket, CSK in IPL and represented India in ODIs and T20Is. He is nicknamed “The Walking Assassin” for his tactic of charging towards the bowler.
He announced his retirement from all forms of cricket on September 14, 2022.
#13 Rumeli Dhar, cricket
The versatile former Indian cricketer played as a right-handed hitter and played in the middle of the right arm. Between 2003 and 2018, she played 78 ODIs, 18 T20Is and domestic cricket for Bengal, Air India, Railways, Rajasthan, Assam and Delhi.
Finally, she announced her retirement from all forms of cricket in June 2022.
#14 Suresh Raina, cricket
The former India international cricketer is an aggressive mid-range left-handed batsman and an occasional jerk. He often served as an alternate captain and is India’s second-youngest player to captain; he captained the Gujarat Lions in the IPL; and he was the vice-captain of the CSK. He holds many records. Being the first Indian batsman to reach a century in all 3 international cricket formats being one of them.
He joined his friend and captain MSDhoni in retirement from international cricket last year in August, and in September 2022 announced his retirement from all forms of cricket (including IPL and domestic cricket).
#15 Vanitha RV, Cricket
Another former Indian cricketer who has played in 16 WODIs and 6 WT20Is for India since 2014. She represented Karnataka in the National Tour from 2006-07 to 2020-21 and Bengal in the 2021/22 season .
She announced her retirement from all forms of cricket in February 2022.
Another former Indian cricketer who has played in 16 WODIs and 6 WT20Is for India since 2014. She represented Karnataka in the National Tour from 2006-07 to 2020-21 and Bengal in the 2021/22 season .
She announced her retirement from all forms of cricket in February 2022.
Other players like Sania Mirza had mentioned earlier that this might also be their last year on the WTA Tour, but have yet to officially announce her retirement.
