Subrata Paul, who did duty under the bar for Jamshedpur Football Club for three seasons in the Indian Super League, has come forward to help a fellow sportsman.

The 33-year-old goalie, who hails from Sodepur (Bengal), provided financial assistance to former special athlete Sanjeev Kumar Das for the medical treatment of his infant son.

Paul was kind enough to chip in with Rs 5,000 after coming to know about the problems being faced by Das who represented India’s handball squad in the Special Olympics International World Summer Games in Dublin, in 2003, and later assisted Jharkhand’s special handball athletes who participated in the next edition of the Games held at Shanghai in 2007. The Indian special team won a bronze in that event.

According to Special Olympics Jharkhand (SOJ) assistant area director Satbir Singh Sahota, he informed Paul about the problems Das was facing for the treatment of his 8-month-old son. "Paul was kind enough to provide Rs 5,000 through one of his acquaintances. The money reached Paul last evening. Mohit, son of Das, was suffering from diarrhoea and was undergoing treatment at a nursing home in Bhalubasa locality of the city for the past three days,"he informed.

Mohit was discharged from the nursing home Tuesday late evening.

Sahota, who also provided Rs 4,000 to Das, knows Paul from the time he was a cadet of Tata Football Academy from 2002-04. Paul switched over to Hyderabad FC this season before heading for SC East Bengal for the remainder of the cash-rich ISL. Both Hyderabad and East Bengal failed to reach the play-offs.

Das, who has been rendered jobless for some months now lives with his mother in the steel city. The bill for the treatment of his son amount to over Rs 5,000 but he was unable to arrange the required money till Paul came to know about it.

The former special athlete was working for Sodexo Facilities Management Services at Baroda (Gujarat) but lost his job as the company shut down due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown last year. Before his job in Baroda, Das worked on a part-time basis for a few organisations in Surat, Bhavnagar and Ahmedabad but had to return to Jamshedpur three years ago due to some unrest in Gujarat.

"Das was also forced to rush to New Delhi last year to be with his pregnant wife, where he faced a similar situation. Special Olympics Bharat (SOB) provided Rs 10,000 to Das on our request. He badly needs a job to keep himself and his family afloat. We are trying our best to find something for him," said Sahota, a former international cyclist.

Das profusely thanked Paul for help.”I am very thankful to Paul Sir for the timely help. I could not have arranged money for the treatment of my son. I need employment to sustan myself and my family. I am also thankful to Sahota ji who personally visited the nursing home last evening,” he added.

Das also thanked former international athlete and Arjuna awardee Bagicha Singh who assisted with Rs 2,000. Singh retired from Tata Steel last year.