October

The Sikhs are the most sports minded people in East Africa, equally proficient in hockey, cricket, motor racing, volleyball, wrestling and golf. Joginder Singh, the first Asian driver ever to win an international rally, and the first man to win the Safari Rally three times, was fondly known as the “Flying Sikh” for his exploits behind the wheel.

In the art of wrestling, Thuman Singh and Swaran Singh remained as champions for a number of years. Another sport in which Sikhs excelled was volleyball. Names like Teja Singh, Mehar Singh, Kirpal Singh, and Raghbir Singh Rahi, stood out.

Cricket, had excellent players going back to the 1930's with Waryam Singh, Gursaran Singh, Daljit Singh and Dr. Ranjit Singh being the notables. Sikhs formed the bulk of the hockey contingents in the earlier Olympic Games -- eight in 1956, nine in 1960 and six in 1964.

The most outstanding player was Surjeet Singh Deol (Senior). He captained Kenya at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games and later played in the Rome Olympics at the age of 36 and was proclaimed the best center-half in the world. Other world class Kenyan Sikh players were Avtar Sohal, Surjeet (Junior), Kuldip Bhogal and Santokh Matharu.

Mahan Singh, one of the founders of the Kenya Hockey Union and Hardial Singh coached the Kenyan teams from 1952 to 1966. Hardial was also a vice-president of the International Hockey Federation. The Chef-de-Mission of Kenya in the 1964 Olympic was Harbans Singh Sehmi, an acknowledgement of the contribution of Sikhs in Kenyan sports.