This election, Odisha will witness two star Hockey players battle it out on the electoral turf. They are Dilip Tirkey, the incumbent president of Hockey India, and Prabodh Tirkey, former captain of the Indian men’s Hockey team.
First, Dilip Tirkey’s name was announced. He is contesting from Sundargarh Lok Sabha seat on a Biju Janata Dal (BJD) ticket.
Today, the Congress announced its list of candidates for eight Lok Sabha and 49 Assembly seats. Prabodh has been nominated for the Talasara Assembly constituency. The former Indian Hockey team’s captain had joined the grand old party last year.
“I would like to thank Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Sarat Pattanayak and Ajoy Kumar for nominating me. I along with the party workers will leave no stone unturned to win from Talasara,” said Prabodh.
Notably, Dilip is locking horns with BJP veteran Jual Oram after a gap of ten years. In 2014, they crossed swords on the political battlefield. And Prabodh has been pitted against BJP’s Bhabani Shankar Bhoi.
(Reported by Debabrata Jena)