The soft-spoken, unflappable Dilip Tirkey is an icon in the true sense of the word. Hailing from a remote adivasi village of Saunamara in Sundargarh, Orissa, he moved up the social ladder to become the captain of the national hockey team. He’s the only Oriya player to represent India in three Olympic Games, starting in 1996.
Growing up in hockey-mad Sundargarh, Tirkey remembers walking several kilometres to watch games between rival villages. “Sometimes when the games were held a little farther, my friends and I borrowed cycles. We were alien to the concept of watching movies in theatres and there were no eating joints then. So, all the fun that we had during college days were at such hockey matches,” he says.
The icon made his hockey debut in 1995 at the age of 18. It was during his Class 12 days at MP College in Sundargarh, he got chance to play his first SAF Game in 1995.
“It was extremely tough to devote equal time to both studies and practice. I could never give enough time to my course but I loved reading history a lot,” recalls Tirkey. His day began at 4am and after hectic early morning practice sessions, he attended classes and went for tuitions as well. From his debut in 1995 to 2001, Tirkey never missed a single game for the national team.
Notwithstanding his tight schedule, Tirkey successfully cleared his Class 12 exams. He went on to graduate from the same college in arts through distance education. “There was no way I could attend regular classes at college but neither could I sacrifice playing hockey. So, the correspondence course was helpful except that I had to attend a few mandatory classes,” he says.
Besides, there was a flexibility as far as appearing for examinations was concerned. “A lot of tournaments happened during this period of my life because of which I could not write my exams on time. I used to make it up by appearing for two papers at one go.”
Tirkey, however, at times bunked the mandatory classes to steal some sleep. “There were times when my friends and I were so tired from our practice sessions that we bunked college just to sleep. Our lecturers would come searching for us but we would hide beneath our beds and come out only
after they left,” he quips.
A recipient of the Arjuna Award (2001) and Padma Shri (2004), Tirkey has never been in any controversy in his illustrious career stretching over a decade-and-a-half. Even today, after bidding adieu to international hockey,
he continues to inspire many young hockey aficionados.
—diana@expressbuzz.com