The Namibian national women's hockey captain, Magreth Mengo, made her retirement from the team official upon her return from the FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup.
Magreth Mengo played her final international game in national colors at the FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup, which concluded on the 11th of February in Pretoria, South Africa.
In an exclusive interview with NBC sport, Mengo made her retirement official to the Namibian nation as she touched on values she embraced throughout her career as well as the recently concluded FIH Indoor hockey World Cup.
"There was quite a lot of lessons learned, from a mental and physical aspect and also a lot of sacrifices one has to make to participate and represent your country. With the recent competition which is the FIH Indoor Hockey world Cup there was a big lesson learned. I am excited and proud of our men and women's teams. We went there with goals set for ourselves but when the reality kicked in it was quite devastating from the results of every game we experienced so I think this is a big eye opener for us as a team"
With 61 indoor caps on home soil, Mengo reached out to two retired Namibian sport personalities, asking them the question, "Is this how it feels?"
With emotions, the former national captain further narrates.
"This is it Namibia, mixed emotions. I actually texted two retired Namibian sport personalities Collin Benjamin and Ricardo Mannetti just to ask them, is this how it feels? and one of their responses was it is because there is love and passion in what you did. But my heart is broken to face a reality that I will not play again. But I have made a decision and I really want to thank Namibia and the support and I don't want to single out anyone because I will do injustice. But there is a lot of individuals, companies, a lot of corporates that really believed in me and walked the journey with me and I thank God for the talent for me to be able to show what I could"
Mengo thanked the Namibian nation for the tremendous support over the years and announced that she would soon reveal what's next for her.
