Football
Jeje Lalpekhlua announces retirement
The Mizoram local's career has been cut short due to a persisting knee injury.
Jeje Lakpekhlua
Jeje Lalpekhlua, fondly known as the 'Mizo Sniper' in the Indian footballing community, has decided to hang up his boots after a tumultuous, yet exciting career in the sport. The 32-year-old had announced his retirement via an event which was livestreamed by Mizo daily Zonet's YouTube channel.
It was with Pune FC, an erstwhile Indian football club, that Jeje began his professional career back in 2009. The Mizoram local moved around quite a bit, but his most successful, and perhaps the one most people associate him with, time was with Indian Super League side Chennaiyin FC.
With the Marina Machans, the forward won the 2015 and the 2017-18 titles, having contributed 23 goals in 69 appearances. For the national team too, he scored the same number of goals, and had forged a magical partnership with fellow striker Sunil Chhetri.
Unfortunately, a stubborn knee injury, which kept popping up like an uninvited guest, somehow forced the player to cut his career short. However, Lalpekhlua never shied away from helping people, and especially people from his hometown, even when he wasn't in the shape to kick a ball around.
Jeje was prompt to held donate blood during the early days of the lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, when blood units weren't readily available in his state. Apart from his proclivity towards humanitarian work, he also showed keen interest in help saving the environment.
In 2021, Jeje was spotted patrolling the Tuichang river in Mizoram to prevent people from 'overfishing', which seriously affected the ecosytem.
He was last seen in action in an East Bengal shirt in the 2020-21 season, where he scored his last goal in their 5-6 loss to Odisha FC.
In a Blue Tiger shirt, he has won the SAFF Championship in 2011 and 2015, and the Intercontinental Cup twice, once in 2017 and then in 2018.
