Bhubaneswar, Sep 4: Former Indian hockey captain Prabodh Tirkey joined the Congress party on Monday.
Tirkey joined Congress here in the presence of president of the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Sarat Pattanayak, Odisha in-charge A Chella Kumar and other senior leaders.
He has expressed his desire to contest the next Assembly election from the Talsara seat.
Tirkey said he decided to join the party as he was deeply influenced by the work of Rahul Gandhi.
Prabodh played 135 international matches. Tirkey was conferred the Ekalavya Puraskar and Biju Patnaik State Sports Award in 2001 and 2009 respectively.