Bhubaneswar: From the hockey turf to poll battleground, two former captains of Indian Men’s Hockey Team have descended on the electoral battle this Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Odisha.
Dilip Tirkey and Prabodh Tirkey have entered into active politics after their retirement from the sports. Although the two candidates are not contesting directly against each other, they got tickets from two different parties. Prabodh is contesting on Congress ticket while Dilip, a former Rajya Sabha MP, secured a ticket from BJD to contest Lok Sabha election.
Padma Shri Dilip is contesting from Sundergarh Lok Sabha seat against BJP heavyweight Jual Oram. Earlier, BJD had sent him to the Rajya Sabha. Jual Oram had won from the seat in 2019. In 2014, Dilip, an Arjun Awardee, had lost to him. This time, both are set to take on each other.
On the other hand, Prabodh is contesting from Talsara Assembly constituency on Congress ticket. Although the two stars are political rivals, both indirectly praised each other. Prabodh considers Dilip as his elder brother.
Prabodh said that the way he worked hard to bring laurels for the country in sports, he would work hard in politics to take forward Talsara.
Prabodh, an ace midfielder, had once headed the Indian Men’s hockey team. He considered Dilip Tirkey as his role model in Hockey
