Birendra Lakra

Birendra Lakra
Personal information
Born (1990-02-03) February 3, 1990
Rourkela, Odisha, India
Height 167 cm (5 ft 6 in)
Weight 68 kilograms (150 lb)
Playing position Fullback
Senior career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2012–present Chandigarh Comets
BPCL
–2008 Orissa Steelers
2013–2014 Ranchi Rhinos 15 (0)
2015–present Ranchi Rays
National team
–present India 71 (7)

Birendra Lakra (born 3 February 1990) is an Indian professional field hockey player. He represented India in Men's Hockey during the 2012 London Olympics.[1] Lakra's elder brother Bimal has played as a midfielder for India. His sister Asunta Lakra has played for India's women's hockey team and has captained the side.[2]

Personal life

Birendra Lakra was born on 3 February 1990 in the Simdega district of Jharkhand. He was born to the Oraon tribe family in a small village of Nongada in Jharkhand in the border of Odisha.

Career

Birendra Lakra is a player of the Rourkela Steel Plant’s SAIL Hockey Academy.[3] Included in the Indian junior team for the first time for Singapore tour in 2007. He represented India in the Test series against South Africa in 2012, the Champions Challenge tournament in South Africa in 2011, the SAAF Games at Dhaka in 2010, at the Youth Olympics at Sydney in 2009, at the Junior World Cup at Singapore in 2009.

He scored the first goal in India's stupendous victory in the final game of the Olympic Hockey Qualifying Tournament against France. He played a key role in taking India in to the semifinals of 2012 Champions trophy. India defeated Belgium with the help of a single goal that was produced by the magical pass given by Birendra Lakra to the forward. With this India entered the semifinals of champions trophy after eight long years.

Hockey India League

In the auction of the inaugural Hockey India League season, Lakra was bought by the Ranchi franchise for USD 41,000[4] with his base price being USD 9,250. The Ranchi team was named Ranchi Rhinos. The team finished in the inaugural season and third in the 2014 season. Following disputes between the franchise and Hockey India, the team decided to pull out, after which Lakra signed with the Ranchi Rays franchise from the 2015 season.[5]

References

  1. "London Olympics 2012: Player profile".
  2. "New Indian women’s hockey captain: Asunta from Lakra family of Simdega!". Bihar Days. 2011-12-01. Retrieved 2013-01-17.
  3. "Profile: Birendra Lakra". NDTV. 2012-07-20. Retrieved 2013-01-17.
  4. "Hockey India League Auction: the final squads list". CNN-IBN. 2012-12-16. Retrieved 2013-01-17.
  5. "Ranchi Rhinos make way for the Ranchi Rays". austinsmith.co.za. Retrieved 23 January 2015.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, April 05, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.