Incomparable goalkeeper of her times, Manipur's pioneer hockey player Tingongleima Chanu, tingu to many, dominated the Indian women's hockey's national scene for a decade starting from midway of 1990s. She has represented India in three Asian Games winning silver at 1998. She was also part of the gold winning 2002 Commonwealth Games. Post retirement, she was the goalkeeper coach with the senior women's team for about three years from 2013. She works for Indian Railways.