Balangir, August 29: Once upon a time, the football field was Kusha Jani’s world.

His days revolved around the ball at his feet, the goalposts in front of him and the thrill of a perfectly taken penalty. For nearly seven years, he trained at sports hostels, dreaming of taking his football career to greater heights. He represented Odisha at national-level championships, played in prestigious tournaments such as the D.C. Roy and Subroto Cup, and helped Balangir win state-level school football titles.

Today, however, the football boots have been replaced by welding tools.

At just Rs 350 a day, Kusha spends long hours working as a welder, trying to keep his family afloat. The national-level footballer who once chased goals on the field is now chasing a daily wage to put food on the table.

Kusha, son of Kasta Jani and Ketaki Jani of Naikensira village under Deogaon block in Balangir district, was drawn to football from childhood. But coming from a financially struggling family, pursuing the sport was never easy.

In 2014, while studying in Class VII, he got his first real opportunity to test his talent. He travelled to a football selection camp at Badbandh ground with referee Ashish Bag. His performance caught the attention of coach Parashar Bag, who selected him and sent him to the selection camp at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar for admission to a sports hostel.

Kusha made it through.

He was selected for the Balangir Sports Hostel, where his sporting journey truly began. For a boy from a modest rural family, the hostel was more than a place to train. It gave him access to coaching, food, accommodation and, most importantly, a chance to dream.

After nearly two years of training, that dream began to take shape.

In April 2016, Kush represented Odisha at the 37th D.C. Roy Football Championship in Delhi. Odisha finished runners-up in the tournament. Later that year, he represented the NCC Odisha Directorate at the 57th Subroto Cup International Football Tournament, where he impressed with his performance.

Soon, he became a regular face in the Balangir and Odisha teams.

He also represented Balangir three consecutive times in the Inter-District School Football Championship and helped the district become state champions twice.

His journey continued after matriculation. In 2018, he moved to the Sports Hostel in Sambalpur, where he pursued Plus Two Science alongside football. In 2017, he had already been part of the Balangir team that won the Sahaney Cup for the first time in 57 years.

For Kusha, the future seemed to be opening up.

Then life intervened.

In 2023, before he was to move to the Sports Hostel in Cuttack, his father died. The loss brought not just grief but a new set of responsibilities. The family’s financial condition worsened. His elder brother left home in search of work, migrating as a labourer.

Kusha was forced to make a painful choice.

Football, the sport that had shaped his childhood and youth, had to take a back seat. He returned home to help his family. He worked in the fields and began assisting his relative Prashant Bariha with welding work.

The player slowly became a worker.

The football field, which had once been the centre of his life, became a distant memory. The dream of advanced training and a bigger sporting career remained, but the immediate needs of the family were more pressing.

Even today, Kush plays on the village football ground and trains young children in various sporting skills. Yet, with the pain of having to put his own aspirations aside, he says that his dreams remain unfulfilled.