Table of Contents
Introduction
Kush Chhetry is a new kid on the block in Indian football. He is the new hero after guiding East Bengal to a 2-0 victory against Mohun Bagan in the derby of the Reliance Under-21 Youth Football League match. Both the goals were scored by Kush Chhetry and the significant part is East Bengal FC defeated Mohun Bagan after a gap of four years including senior and the junior level.
The Journey
Kush hails from a village in West Manipur named Kanga Towang. His father works in Assam Rifles. He has two older brothers. But Kush was inspired to play football at the age of 10 mainly after watching his cousins at their local ground. His father also used to push him to play football. Kush was talented and that was the reason he got into his district team at the age of 11 years. He also won the district league championship playing for Kanga Towang.
Kush said,
“I had scored four goals also in the league including one in the final. My performance steered me to appear for a selection trial at Gokulam FC under-15 side. I impressed the coach Suhair VP at Gokulam FC and then found a local club to play competitive matches in the Kerala league. But being only 15 years old I was not getting chances to play. Then the turning point came when Bino George, the first Pr-licensed coach from Kerala who is in charge of East Bengal junior and reserve teams asked me to appear for trials at the red-and-gold brigade.”
Kush Chhetry’s Thankfulness to Teammates
Footballer Kush did not forget to mention,
“I must say about my teammates who also showed consistency throughout which helped the strikers like me to score. I should say about our custodian Aditya Patra whose brilliant show inspired us a lot, especially in the first derby and also in other matches. He has been a ‘Great Wall’. In the final phase also, Aditya will be a big boost for us and he deserves special credit. I am thankful to Bino sir. He has helped me a lot motivating me to see dreams of donning senior India shirts and playing in the ISL one day.”
Music for Motivation
Kush loves to listen to Bhajans on Krishna and Hanuman-ji. He said,
“I try to increase concentration and become stress-free mentally by listening to Bhajans before any match. I did it before the derby also. It helps me a lot to be calm and focus.”
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