By Purushottam Nayak
Sambalpur, Dec. 7, 2021: A Catholic priest in Odisha hopes to achieve his childhood dream of playing hockey for India. He now trains women to become the country’s future hockey team and his main supporter is his bishop.
“I always wanted to become a member of India’s A team, stay in a sport hostel and play for my nation. But God willed otherwise,” Father Rajendra Kumar Kujur of Sambalpur Catholic diocese told Matters India.
A documentary film “The Mountain Hockey” made on the priest’s resolves and love for the games was released a few months ago on OTT platforms such as Disney Hotstar, MX Player, Fearless, Amazon Prime Video and DcuBay in more than 170 countries.
The Odia language film, directed by Avinash Pradhan and Debasish Mohapatra, gives a glimpse of the cradle of Indian hockey by focusing Amlikhaman, a small village surrounded by mountains in Odisha’s Sambalpur district.
The inspirational figure in the film is Father Kujur, who is currently the headmaster of Upper Primary Mission School in Amlikhaman, some 90 km northeast of Sambalpur.
Father Kujur’s dram soared high when hockey and Odisha drew national attention when the Indian women team reached Olympics semi-final. All of them were trained in the eastern Indian state.
Now the 46-year-old priest wants his women to win the gold in future.
Father Kujur says grooming poor tribal girls from inaccessible villages of Odisha and making them shine at highest level “was like a dream come true for me.”
The priest began coaching students from sixth grade soon after his diaconate ordination 12 years ago.
Bishop Niranjan Sualsingh of Sambalpur says the training is the priest’s personal initiative. “It is a good thing to encourage sports for the girls. He is doing his best to promote hockey,” the prelate told Matters India.
Father Kujur’s efforts have helped some girls get admission in the sports hostel and in the Kalinga institute of Social Sciences, a free residential education institution for tribal children based at Bhubaneswar, the state capital.
Father Kujur says playing hockey was his favorite pastime during school days. His father did not agree when he told him about his desire to live in a sports hostel.
“I even played hockey at college level and went on to represent the university team but unfortunately I was not picked up for playing eleven because by then I had joined the seminary. Thus came to an end my dream to play for the nation,” he recalled.
After his priestly ordination, he was posted in Amlikhaman.
Father Sushil Kerketta, Amlikhaman parish priest who stays with Father Kujur, says his companion tries his best to improve the lot of tribal girls through hockey.
Around 600 students reside in hostels in the school campus. They come from tribal districts such as Sundargarh, Deogarh, Sambalpur, and Sonpur.
Father Kujur’s main focus is on hockey. “He dreams to build one or two national teams that could play in Olympics,” Father Toppo told Matters India.
Father Kujur’s mother, Johani Minj, is grateful to God for accompanying his as a priest and hockey coach to give tribal girls a bright future.
“May his priestly life bring success and glory for God in education and in sports ministry in the Church,” she told Matters India.
Many young women now thank Father Kujur for training from the grassroots level.
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The Catholic woman not only got admission in KISS but went to New Delhi to play hockey where her team won the silver medal. After her masters, she is currently doing Physical Educational Training Teacher training in Government College, Patia, Bhubaneswar.
Father Anil Kumar Kujur, a companion of the hockey priest from school days, recalls his companion had received training when he was in the eleventh grade and played the game extremely well.
“He does this alternative ministry with his personal interest in building up career of the tribal girls. He started coaching tribal girls in a small way and now coach around 400 students.
The hockey priest enjoys good public rapport with has good influence on government officials.
“He encourages hockey, which is the identity of the tribal in Odisha. He is a dedicated and disciplined priest, infuses Christian values into the sports,” Father Anil told Matters India.
Father Rajendra Kumar Kujur was born February 8, 1975, as the youngest of the four children of Flabianus Kujur Johani Minj at Kiralaga village. He completed his tenth grade in 1991 at New Orissa High School, Gaibira, and joined the Jyoti Bhawan Minor Seminary in Sambalpur. He did his Intermediate in 1993 and bachelors four years later from Gangadhar Meher College, Sambalpur.
He studied philosophy at Jnana Deepa Vidyapeeth of Pune, western India, and theology at Khristo Jyoti Mohavidyalay, Sason, Sambalpur.