Kolkata, Feb 17: He was being hailed as one of the most promising defenders in Kolkata football. His daring attitude and willingness for hard work had steered him to the senior Indian preparatory camp around 7 months ago.

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He is Kaushik Sarkar, the 21-year old from Bengal. The defender was signed by East Bengal last season after Sarkar was called up by India's coach Stephen Constantine for senior national team's preparatory camp for the SAFF Games. The defender who lives in Chinsura, an hour drive from Kolkata, just began to view the dream of a bright career.

But all of a sudden, Kaushik's future has fallen in limbo. The situation rose after he was suddenly axed by East Bengal in the middle of contract during the I-League.

East Bengal club has axed not only Kaushik, rather 6 more junior footballers who had established themselves in Kolkata Premier League in the last two seasons, have been terminated from their contract during the ongoing I-League.

Kaushik who was one of the promising students of Sports Authority of India (SAI) said recently, "I thought I had almost made my career. But now I will have to start again from scratch. I do not know where I will be able to find a place."

Kaushik's only advantage is that his family is not struggling financially and he has already been assured of all required financial help to continue football.

He first drew attention of football specialists in Kolkata by delivering an impressive show against Mohun Bagan in the Kolkata Premier League last season donning Kalighat MS shirts.

Mohun Bagan coach Sanjoy Sen commented, "Kaushik is a cerebral defender. I have not seen many defenders like him whose game is dependent on intelligence and skill. He should shine."

But now Kaushik regrets for not being offered by any club so far in last 3 months. But despite being upset, he has not stopped practising. Every day he goes to local club ground early in the morning and trains with local lads with the expectation that he will get a call from some I-League club one day.

OneIndia News