A good four seasons ago, a cherubic, bordering on the ‘cute’, teenager from the evergreen Pamposh Hostel team, Prabodh Tirkey did catch the imagination of the discerning in the 1997 All-India Inter-SAI Sports Hostels tournament. And his immediate reward, announced by an impressed MP Ganesh, former World Cup captain then in charge of Bangalore wing of the Sports Authority of India, was a ‘seat’ in the Centre of Excellence (CoE) team that was being formed the previous year.

Moscow Olympic gold winning captain Vasudevan Baskaran, who had assisted the Pamposh hostel with his expert advice, had said on that occasion: “By inducting Prabodh into the Centre of Excellence, the team has become formidable enough to play in domestic competition.”
As if to vindicate the genial former national coach’s words, Prabodh finished as one of the most striking players, literally too, in the arduous KSHA Super Division League as CoE finished as runners-up on debut, when the team was accorded direct entry in 1998. Brother Ignace Tirkey, meanwhile, joined the Madras Engineering Group (MEG), who emerged champions in that tournament but it was Prabodh who impressed as one of the most promising players. An award he was to win in the inaugural U&I Cup in 2001.

Hailing from the hockey district of Sundargarh, wielding the stick for Prabodh was akin to fish taking to water. “Mai aur kuch soch bhi nahin sakta (I couldn’t think of anything else),” is his prompt reply if one asks him of the advent into hockey. “Ever since I could think, I always thought of playing hockey for India,” he had to say. “I come from a region which has produced many great players like Sylvanus Dung Dung, Manohar Topno and Dilip Tirkey. If I can achieve even half of what they did, I will consider myself lucky,” is his modest ambition. Such modesty in words belies his ambitious, aggressive approach on the field.

Born on October 6, 1984, it has been a fairy tale run for the talented Tirkey. India won the Sub-Junior Asia Cup under his captaincy when he was hardly 16. He was the babe of India’s 2000 Junior Asia Cup team which not only made it to the final but had also qualified for the Hobart World Cup. He also figured in the Akhbar el Yom Cup and the 8-Nation Poznan Junior Challenge Cup, both in 2000. The alumini of the Birsa Munda School in Orissa, he was fittingly made the captain for the Poznan 6-Nation Challenge Cup in 2001 despite the presence of a couple of senior players in the team including his elder brother Ignace Tirkey.

Having played a crucial role in India’s Junior World Cup triumph at Hobart in 2001, leading the Indian team to triumph in the Sub-Junior Asia Cup was considered by many as an understatement of his faculties. A crucial cog in the wheel in the scheme of things of all coaches in the post-Cedric D’Souza era, Prabodh has gone on to lead the squad to victory almost all the ‘Developmental’ experiments the IHF has carried out. The latest of course being the triumph in Poznan (Poland). In August 2003, India defeated Pakistan 5-0 in the final of the Poznan Junior Challenge Cup. Prabodh was the proud captain.
Top notch domestic team Indian Airlines availed Prabodh’s services on stipend for the 2000 Jammu Senior National Championship. For a player who had just appeared for his 10th standard examination in 2001, it was a great but fitting honour. He has played two Junior Nationals, one for his home state and the other for Karnataka till the end of 2003. Prabodh obtained his senior India colours under Rajinder Singh in 2002 as a part of team visiting Australia. After a lull, Rajinder again took him in the senior ranks for the First Afro-Asian Games, where he shone as an able substitute in the midfield.

NOTE: Rest in the Book

S. Mageshwaran, 31, Sports Editor, Vijay Times, Bangalore has been covering hockey for over a decade and is known for his analytical skills and comprehensive coverage of hockey. He began his career with the Indian Express Group. Contact: smageshwaran@hotmail.com