A hockey great in town

Former captain Dilip Tirkey talks about the state of affairs in Indian hockey

_ BY p , FRANKEV ".- !, GERA.im·, , FERNANDES ' ,

As the Soccer World Cu p fever rages on, Adelaide's C lub India I nternatio n al SA Inc roped in s upport for the Socceroos &o m none other than o n e of Iadia's hoc key great~

Dil ip Ti rkey, former India hockey captai n , Padmashree awardee and Ra jya Sabha member, is currently in Adelaide, recuperating after undergoing ankle su rgery at Sporrs m ed SA, a premier spo r ts medicine institute.

T har the Socceroos, aft er splen did performances against much better ranked teams, d id nor proi,>:ress into the round of 16, was a differen t story Club Lnclia lnternational SA Sports Secretary Shelvin Roswan, Entertai nment Secretary N ick Fernandes, Treasurer Steiling Silveira, executive comrni ttee member D u n stan A lbert Morais and others presented the official Socceroos jersey to the former lndian hockey captain. and wished him a speedy recovery.

Tirkey is the highest c app ed Indian. p layer at 412 internatio nal matches. He played in the fullback pos ition and was best known for his penalty corner hits as well as his defence, than.ks to his tigbr marking skills near tbe goal post. He was forced to retire from t be game prema turely d u e to a n k le problems. He rece n tly underwent surgery o n both an kles at Sportsmed , and i s cur rently recuperating h ere.

The forme r O l ym pian - Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000 and captain of the team in Athens in 2004Dilip Tirkey was known for h is stick skills throughout the wo rld. In March 20 12 he was elected unopposed to the Ra jya Sabha.

Considered th e world's best defe n der during hi s playi ng days, the for m er captain firmly believes lie will b e able to recover well from the an.kJe surgery and h is first priori ty w ill be to coach the Indian hockey tea m.

Always in the th ic k of the action w hile he represent ed the country, Tirkey rook time o ut to speak co fodi,m Link.

"1 still have a lot to offer t o the game that has g iven me so much in l ife," he said. "O nce 1 am fir to move about, 1 look forward to taking on the ro le of coach We need to groo m youngs ters, talented pla yer s and give them exposure I want co coach them a nd share m y experience"

Tirkey, wh o made his debur in the 1ndira Gan d h i Go ld Cup in 1995, fee ls that bis vast experience and tough play o n th e field as a dependab le defender will be positive points that h e can share with u pc oming p layer s "In hockey, fast thinking and tackling the ball are rhe mos t impo:rtanl as p ects of the game," he emp hasised.

"A fter I s lowed down with my performance clue to the ankle injury, which resulted in a dow n slide in m y fimess, I took to imparti ng training to you ng tribal players in m y h o m e district o f Sunda rgarh in Otrisa," T i rl,ey revealed.

As a player, Tirkey considers India 's performance in tbe 2007 As ia Cup fi n als a s the def-in.ing m oment o f hi s 15-year-lo n g career. L1dia defeated a strong Korea ream.

At the rece ntly c o ncl ude d 2014 Hockey World Cup in the Ne therlands, whe re defen ding champion s Aus tralia wo n the tournament after defeating the hos t country 6-l in the finals, India lost to Austr alia, E ngland and Belgium and had a draw with Spain. Tirkey b elieves this was primaril y due to the in exper ience of young players in perfo rming at the world competition level, a n d a failure to c o p e with this fast-paced nature of the g mue.

Witl1 rega rd to the Indian Hockey League, T irkey o bserved , ' 'This is the best t h ing to happen for ho ckey in our country. It will help s pot players and g ive t hem the des ired exposure, p lus of course tl1e oppornmi ty co brush shoulders with foreign players who a re participating in the league"

Still, h e added, more n eeds to be done to pop ulari se the ga me in the larger cities of the countr y Tirkey had a word of praise for current Ind ian men's hockey coach, Aus tralian Terry Walsh, for his strategies and mou ldi ng of t h e team. But he did say drnr ultimately it is ltp to tl1e players who need to d o their part on the field, which w1forn111ately did nor happen in the lase major world rournan1ent.

J\s a spor tsperso n in the Raj ya Sabha alongsid e cricket great Sachin T e nduJkar, Tirkey feel s his major respo n sibility in India's Parliamen t is to work for tl1e bettermen t of hockey as well as other sports Yet he is equally motivated m wru·d tl1e development of India's rural and ttibal areas, w ith educa ti o n as his primary objective

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