Dilip Tirkey hits out at Orissa Hockey Association

Chennai, Jan 15 (UNI) Former India captain Dilip Tirkey today hit out at the Orissa Hockey Association (OHA) and said there was no truth in the charge levelled by OHA Secretary Pratap Satpathy and Joint Secretary Pranab Pathak that he and his Orissa Stealers had not given their best in the just-concluded Professional Hockey League (PHL).

In a release to the media here, he alleged that ''no official of OHA had discussed with the captain or any of the senior players before finalising the Orissa Stealers team for PHL.'' Tirkey said he wondered whether he did not have the credentials to be part of the selection process to pick the Orissa Stealers team, after having been an Olympian and India captain.

Hitting out at the OHA Secretary and Joint Secretary, Tirkey, who is currently in Bangalore at a training camp for the Indian squad for the pre-Olympic tournament to be held in March in Chile, alleged that they had been hanging on to their post for vested interests and ''they have done more harm than good for the development of hockey in Orissa.'' He alleged that the OHA had not done anything to either encourage or promote hockey and the Orissa Stealers team was not put through any preparatory camp for the PHL. ''They do not have any system to groom youngsters,'' he added.

UNI VV GD RKM RAI2136