 Dilip Kumar Tirkey was born on 24th November in the year 1977 in Savnamara near Sundargarh, Orissa. This defender in field hockey hails from originally the Oraon tribe of Chota Nagpur. Dilip was born to parents, Vincent Tirkey and Resina Tirkey. In the year 1995, he made his international debut for the Indian national team against England in the Indira Gandhi Gold Cup. In three Olympics he has participated his penalty corner hitting is considered as one of the best in the world.
In the recently cerebrated 3rd PHL, he is declared as the best player. His upliftment from an Adivasi lad of a remote hamlet of Orissa moving towards the social ladder and become the captain of the national hockey team is definitely a bewitching exercise. It is not easy to jump from respecting the steady progress to stardom of Dilip Tirkey in the inexplicable history of Indian hockey. Coincidentally the fact remains that first Indian captain to the Olympics held in the year1928 at Amsterdam was an Adivasi - Jaipal Singh Munda.
In this context it will be significant to note that hockey in India has been in an inextricable manner linked to the underlying and often undeveloped Adivasi talent for decades. The quality and content of a whole generation of Adivasi stars are being reflected through Dilip Tirkey.
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Tirkey as the heir of India`s most crowned player ever, Pargat Singh, has captained the national squad for almost a decade. To represent India, he is the only Adivasi in three Olympic Games, starting in 1996.
Dillip Tirkey is presently working as the Assistant Manager, Indian Airlines. His Father Vincent Tirkey has played for Orissa and Brother Anoop Tirkey also plays for Railways. In the year 2006, Dilip Tirkey is married to Mira Tirkey in 2006. He himself is the product of Special Area Games Scheme, SAI Sports Hostel, Kolkata (1992) and Air India Hockey Academy, New Delhi. Orissa Steelers,which won the 3rd Premier Hockey League title of India is the team of Tirkey and the title winning incident happened under his captaincy. The Orissa Steelers did a dream run under the captaincy of Tirkey. In that many of the top teams were croaked. Now he is playing for Indian Airlines in the position of right back. In the national level he has played the tournaments:
National Championship --- Dec 2000-Jammu (1st), he was made the `Player of the Championship`; Mar 1999 - Hyderabad (1st); May 1997 - Bangalore; 1993 - Bikaner
National Games --- Dec 2002 - Hyderabad, 1 GOAL
Premier Hockey League --- Jan/Feb 2005 - Hyderabad (1st) - Hyderabad Sultans, he was conferred the title `Player of the Tournament`.
Jawaharlal Nehru Hockey Tournament --- Nov 2002 - Delhi (2nd), he played as the CAPTAIN
Lal Bahadur Shastri Hockey Tournament --- Nov/Dec 2003 - Delhi (2nd); Nov/Dec 2002 - Delhi (2nd) as CAPTAIN.
Muruguppa Gold Cup --- Jul 2002 - Chennai (1st); Jul 1998 - Chennai (1st).
In the international circuit he has played 317 matches at the end of year 2004 and made 63 goals throughout his international career. The tournaments which he has played are:
Olympics --- Aug 2004 - Athens (7th), 1 GOAL, Captain; Sep 2000 - Sydney (7th), 3 GOALS; Jul/Aug 1996 - Atlanta (8th); Only Adivasi to represent India in 3 Olympic Games.
World Cup --- Feb/Mar 2002 - Kuala Lumpur (10th), 2 GOALS; May 1998 - Utrecht (9th).
Champions Trophy --- Dec 2004 - Lahore (4th) as CAPTAIN; Aug 2003 - Amstelveen (4th), 1 GOAL; Aug/Sep 2002 - Cologne (4th), 1 GOAL as Captain; Dec 1996 - Chennai (4th).
Asian Games --- Dec 2006 - Doha (5th) as CAPTAIN; Oct 2002 - Busan (2nd) as CAPTAIN; Member of All-Star Asian Games team; Dec 1998 - Bangkok (1st), 2 GOALS.
Asia Cup --- Sep 2003 - Kuala Lumpur (1st), 4 GOALS; Nov 1999 - Kuala Lumpur (3rd), 2 GOALS.
Afro-Asian Games --- Oct 2003 - Hyderabad (1st), 1 GOAL as Captain
Commonwealth Games --- Sep 1998 - Kuala Lumpur (4th), 2 GOALS
SAF Games --- 1995 - Chennai (1st)
Indo-Pak Hockey Series --- Sep/Oct 2004 (Lost 2-4) as CAPTAIN; Feb 1999 (Lost 3-6), 1 GOAL; Feb/Mar 1998 (Lost 3-4), 2 GOALS. He was made the `Man of the Series (India)`.
Indira Gandhi Gold Cup --- 1995 - Lucknow (1st)
Sultan Azlan Shah Cup --- Aug 2001 - Kuala Lumpur (5th), 2 GOALS; Feb 2000 - Kuala Lumpur (3rd), 1 GOAL.
Junior World Cup --- Sep 1997 - Milton Keynes (2nd), VICE-CAPTAIN and he got selected in World XI team.
Asian Tour --- Mar 2001 - Dhaka - 9-Nation Prime Minister`s Gold Cup (1st), 3 GOALS
Australian Tour --- Apr 2004 - Sydney - 4-Nation Tournament (LAST) as CAPTAIN; Apr  2004 - Canberra - 4-Nation Tournament (2nd), CAPTAIN; Jun 2003 - 3-Nation Tournament - Sydney (1st), 1 GOAL; May/Jun 2003 - 3-Nation Tournament - Perth (2nd), 1 GOAL; Jun 2002 - Melbourne - 4-Nation Tournament (2nd), CAPTAIN; May/Jun 2002 - Adelaide - 4-Nation Tournament (2nd), CAPTAIN; Apr 2000 - Sydney - 4-Nation Tournament (3rd), 1 GOAL; Apr 2000 - Perth - 4-Nation Tournament (1st), 2 GOALS;
Sep 1999 - Sydney - 4-Nation Tournament (Last), 1 GOAL; Sep 1999 - Canberra - 4-Nation Tournament (Last); Apr 1998 - Melbourne - 4-Nation Tournament (LAST); Apr 1998 - Sydney - 4-Nation Tournament (3rd).
European Tour --- Aug 2004 - Leverkusen - 3-Test Series vs. Ireland (Won 2-1), 1 GOAL, Captain; Jul 2004 - Dusseldorf - 4-Nation Tournament (2nd), 2 GOALS, Captain; Jun/Jul 2004 - Amstelveen - Rabobank 4-Nation Tournament (Last), 1 GOAL, Captain; Mar 2004 - Madrid - Olympic Qualifier (4th), 2 GOALS, Captain; Jun 2003 - Hamburg - 4-Nation Panasonic Masters (1st), 3 GOALS; Aug 2002 - Amstelveen - Rabobank 4-Nation Tournament (Last), 2 GOALS; Jul 2001 - Edinburgh - World Cup Qualifier (5th), 3 GOALS; Jul 2001 - Milton Keynes - 4-Nation Castrol Festival (1st); Jan 2000 - Barcelona - 3-Test Series vs. Belgium (Won 2-0); Jan 2000 - Barcelona - 1-Test Series vs. Canada (Won 1-0); Jan 2000 - Barcelona - 4-Nation Tournament (3rd), 2 GOALS; Jun 1999 - Brussels - 4-Test Series vs. Belgium (Won 2-1); Jun 1999 - 4-Test Series vs. Germany (Lost 1-3).
New Zealand Tour --- Jun 2001 - 4-Test Series (Lost 1-2)
Test Series at Home --- Dec 2004 - Delhi - 2-Test Series vs. France (Lost 0-1), CAPTAIN; Nov 2004 - Chandigadh - 2-Test Series vs. Spain (Tied 1-1), CAPTAIN; Feb 2004 - Hyderabad - 3-Test Series vs. Netherlands (Lost 0-2), CAPTAIN; Feb/Mar 2001 - 3-Test Series vs. Germany (Lost 1-2); Jan 1998 - 4-Test Series vs. Germany (Lost 0-3); 1996 - vs. England; 1996 - vs. Germany.
He has like other professional hockey player, played for foreign clubs like HC Klein Switzerland at Amsterdam during Oct - Dec 2005 and again from Apr - May 2006
Sep - Oct 2006 (6 matches, 2 goals) Mar - Apr 2007.
His endemic sweep shot, aggressive defense and a dangerous penalty convert, rated Dilip Tirkey as one of the most intelligent international hockey players of all times. Dilip Tirkey now has spend his splendid career around 10 years. This suave, soft-spoken and skilful, with two Olympics and World Cups behind him, Tirkey has the essential accumulation of knowledge and expertise to shoulder the responsibility thrust on him.
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