She had an impressive show in the Kanyasree Cup although her team Durbar Sports Academy (DSA) had won only one match in its six group league matches and the desired goal was scored by the striker, Nayantika Mondol. 

The 17-year-old girl lives in Pathar Pratima, a remote village in South 24 Parganas. Her father is a temporary worker at the cold storage while her elder brother works in Maharashtra. Besides, she has a mother and grandmother. 

Nayantika was not even aware of women's football. She used to play the game barefoot with her elder brother and his friends. The student of 11th standard at Gurudaspur Mahendra Indra Vidyamandir School however came to know about women's football in Bengal from her school teacher and got admitted to DSA in Baruipur before Kanyasree Cup last year. 

Starting at 5 in the morning she had to travel five hours from her home to reach DSA Baruipur. But later she could not attend training more than twice a week. The dire financial distress was the key obstruction. She divulged, "Sometimes, DSA coaches used to give us the train fare from Lakkhikantapur to Baruipur. Otherwise, from my home to DSA Baruipur and return home we needed almost Rs 200. I could not continue it later and attended training twice a week." 

Significantly, due to the financial crunch, DSA was not able to provide any lunch for the footballers who were attending the training from afar. How could one footballer sustain physically having only raw chickpeas, nuts, and one boiled egg? Nayantika described, "Sometimes I became so hungry that bought something in the afternoon. Otherwise, I had dinner at home after returning from DSA in the late evening."

Along with football, Nayantika also has to help her father in cultivating paddy. The striker laughed and stated, "This job helps me to gain strength that I can apply while playing."

Nayantika now seems serious about establishing herself as a professional footballer. She is keen to earn from football. She revealed, "I must have to earn from football. I will have to become a professional footballer so that my parents get relief in the near future. The boots that my father gifted me cost Rs 450 and I know how much difficulty he had to spend the amount for me."

But Nayantika wants to go out of Bengal. She quipped, "I had recent talks with a club in Jharkhand. I want to go there to earn money. I will ask DSA to issue a release order."