Hockey India inducts Hockey Gangpur (Odisha) as Associate Member

New Delhi, September 5, 2013: Hockey India today inducted Hockey Gangpur (Odisha) as an Associate Member.

Hockey India now has 17 Associate Members, with 27 Affiliated Members and two State Olympic Association Members.

With this inclusion, Hockey Gangpur (Odisha) can take part in all the National Championships to be conducted by Hockey India in future. Gangpur and its surrounding areas have produced numerous Olympians and international players and now with the entry of Hockey Gangpur (Odisha) in the mainstream of hockey it will help in the further development of sport in the tribal areas.

Dr. Narinder Batra, Secretary General, Hockey India said “Many players including Dilip Tirkey, Ignace Tirkey, Prabodh Tirkey, Michael Kindo, Lazarus Barla and Subhadra Pradhan have played at international level from the Gangpur region and the entry of Hockey Gangpur (Odisha) would play a major role in promoting and developing hockey in the tribal areas of Gangpur. We are hopeful that three times Olympian and former captain Dilip Tirkey (Member, Rajya Sabha) who is the President of Hockey Gangpur (Odisha) and its other members who are former international players can help the development of more talent in their region”.

Dilip Tirkey (Member, Rajya Sabha) is the President and Debashish Gouda is the General Secretary of Hockey Gangpur (Odisha).