Guwahati: A Blue Tigress’ veteran Yumnam Kamala Devi announced her retirement from professional football following India’s withdrawal from AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2022 at the age of 29. The host nation had to withdraw owing to unavailability of players due to COVID-19 contraction.
“It’s been a hard decision for me but I would like to announce my retirement from playing professional football. It has been a very tough decision for me.” said Kamala Devi on her social media handle.
Kamala Devi had as many as 33 goals to her name in 36 games for India. Despite not being seen since December 2018, Kamala finally made it to the squad facing Brazil last year before getting a call back from head coach Thomas Dennerby for the Asian Cup campaign. However, the Gokulam Kerala player failed to make any appearance in the sole game played by the host nation.
Announcing her departure from the professional football, Kamala Devi stated:
“First of all, I would like to thank my parents and my loving Edomcha.Then I would like to thank Oja Biren who taught me how to play football at the grassroots level which made me the footballer I’m and helped me fulfill all my wishes that I had. I would also like to thank my respected local brothers who guided me and supported me throughout my career.”
“Last not the least I would like to thank all my coaches and teammates at various levels whether playing for India, Railways, Manipur State and Various Clubs.”
“I know this is a tough decision to take but there were a lot of considerations I had to make for this decision.Once again I would like to thank all my supporters who have supported me throughout this journey.” she concluded.
