This is Santosh Majhi, a former national hockey player from Lulkidihi village of Odisha’s Sundergarh district is now working in a fishing unit as a daily wage labourer in Goa to make ends meet. Santosh has played several junior and senior level national matches including two national hockey championships. Santosh started playing hockey when he was just 11 years old .Since his child hood he has a passion for hockey.

Hailing from the land of Sundergarh in Odisha which has gifted the nation with numerous hockey players including Former Indian Hockey Captain Dillip Tirkey, Lazarus Barla, Prabodh Tirkey, Deep Grace Ekka, Birendra Lakra and many more, but destiny forced him to become a migrant labourer to feed his family. However, these hardships have not deterred him from believing in his dreams. Even to this date, Santosh practices with his hockey stick in his village house.

During the monsoon season, Santosh returns home to assist his family in agriculture work and with end of the monsoon season he again returns back to Goa for the fishing work.

The two hockey champs from Sundergarh district, Birendra Lakra and Amit Rohidas earned praises from all quarters after contributing in their team winning bronze at the Tokyo Olympics this year. But it is unfortunate that player like Santosh from the same district is still struggling to make an identity of his own. Mean while the district administration has said that information is being collected about such players like Santosh and appropriate steps will be taken to make their lives better.

There is always light at the other end of the tunnel. It is this hope that his life will improve for the better, which keeps Santosh going even during these challenging times.