Ace defender Dilip Tirkey will play in the Dutch hockey league for the second successive year. He will board the flight to Amsterdam late Thursday night.

The Indian Airlines full-back will play for Klein Zwiterland, the same team he turned out for last year. He will be in the Netherlands for 20 days and play four matches.

Tirkey, who was sidelined for a while with an ankle injury, returned to competitive hockey in the recent four-nation invitational meet at Monchengladbach, Germany [Images].

"It's not a very long assignment. I will be there for 20 days and play four matches," he said.

On playing along side teammate Gagan Ajit Singh for the Dutch club, he said, "Gagan is there for quite some time, so it will be nice to play alongside him once again for the same club."

After failing to make it to the Commonwealth Games squad, Gagan joined Klien Zwiterland.

Tirkey is being accompanied by his wife, Meera.

He will be back by the second week of May, before the Indian team's preparations for the Sultan Azlan Shah tournament in Kuala Lumpur take off.

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