by Dil Bahra
Avtar Singh Sohal (Right) receives the Sikh Union Club Nairobi Lifetime Achievement Award during the Club’s centenary celebrations on 10 May 2026.
Avtar Singh Sohal, the Kenyan hockey legend who joined Sikh Union Club Nairobi as a schoolboy in 1956 and today serves as Patron of the Club, was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award during the Club’s centenary gala banquet on Sunday, 10 May 2026.
Now aged 88, Avtar remains one of the towering figures of Kenyan hockey history — a player, captain, coach and ambassador whose association with Sikh Union has spanned seven decades.
The centenary gala banquet was attended by more than 750 guests from Kenya, the United Kingdom, India, Malaysia, Nigeria, Canada, New Zealand and the United States, reflecting the global reach of Sikh Union’s sporting legacy. Teams from several of these countries had also participated in the international hockey tournament staged as part of the centenary celebrations.
Among those present were 14 Olympians who had represented Sikh Union and Kenya across different generations, adding further significance to the evening’s tribute to Avtar.
The citation on the Lifetime Achievement Award praised Avtar’s “exceptional dedication, leadership and lifelong contribution” and recognised the lasting impact he had made “both on and off the field.”
Avtar was spotted by coach Mahan Singh in 1956 while still a student at Duke of Gloucester School, at a time when Sikh Union was rebuilding following the departure of several senior players two years earlier.
Mahan Singh was himself one of the founders of Sikh Union Club Nairobi in 1926 and had served the Club as player, captain and coach before later becoming Kenya’s national coach at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games and subsequently President of the Kenya Hockey Union. In many ways, Avtar’s recognition during the Club’s centenary year reflected a passing of the torch across generations of Sikh Union history.
Among the guests present at the centenary banquet was Mahan Singh’s daughter, Jaswant Kaur Grewal, now aged 96.
Sikh Union Club Nairobi during the 1956–57 rebuilding season. A young Avtar Singh Sohal joined the Club while still at school.
Under the captaincy of Surjeet Singh Deol Sr, the teenager quickly established himself at left-back — a position he would occupy for both club and country for more than two decades.
Kenya’s Golden Era
During the 1960s and early 1970s, Kenya emerged as one of the strongest hockey nations outside Europe and Asia, with Sikh Union Nairobi providing the backbone of the national side.
During Kenya’s golden era in the 1960s, Sikh Union and the national team possessed one of the finest defensive units in world hockey: Avtar Sohal at left-back, Kirpal Singh Bhardwaj at right-back, Jack Simonian in goal, and Surjeet Singh Panesar Jr at centre-half.
Avtar captained Kenya to a historic fourth-place finish at the 1971 Hockey World Cup in Barcelona and represented his country at four Olympic Games — Rome 1960, Tokyo 1964, Mexico 1968 and Munich 1972. He captained the side at Tokyo, Mexico and Munich, with Kenya achieving its highest-ever Olympic finish of sixth place at the 1964 Games.
Avtar was part of the Sikh Union side that won the Club’s first M.R. D’Souza Gold Cup title in 1959 (then East Africa’s premier hockey tournament) and would go on to win the trophy a record 12 times as a player and captain.
Beyond his achievements as a player and captain, Avtar also played a major role in exposing younger players to international hockey. He led Sikh Union tours to India in 1971, Europe in 1975, and Europe and the Americas in 1978, helping to introduce a new generation of players to top-level international competition.
Like many sportsmen of his generation, Avtar represented Sikh Union beyond hockey and also played cricket for the Club during the late 1950s and early 1960s — reflecting the multi-sport culture that defined East African Asian clubs of the era.
Sikh Union Club Cricket 1st X1 – 1956-57 season – Avtar is standing 2nd from left
The award presentation became one of the defining moments of the evening. Former Olympians and players from several generations were present as the 88-year-old received a prolonged standing ovation from guests attending the centenary banquet.
For many in the room, the tribute represented not only recognition of an outstanding player, but also a salute to one of the last remaining links to Kenya hockey’s golden era.
Sikh Union players formed the backbone of Kenya’s national team during the 1960s, widely regarded as the golden era of Kenyan hockey.
“I am extremely proud to be honoured with this award by the Club,” said Avtar. “We lived about 300 metres from Sikh Union Club and I started visiting when I was 11 or 12 years old. I never imagined, when I joined the Club as a schoolboy, that I would still be here for its centenary celebrations.”
“Avtar represents the very spirit of Sikh Union,” said Del Mudher, the Club Secretary. “From his younger days as a schoolboy player to his service as captain, coach, mentor and now Patron of the Club, his contribution has been extraordinary. Honouring him during our centenary year was a moment of immense pride for all of us.”
Sikh Union Club Nairobi during the 1971 tour of India. Twelve members of the touring squad later represented Kenya at the 1971 Hockey World Cup in Barcelona.
Decades after his retirement from international hockey, Avtar continues to serve Sikh Union as the Club’s Patron, maintaining a close association with the institution that shaped much of his sporting life. He was instrumental in the installation of the Club’s first astroturf pitch in 2016 and has also played a leading role in the development of the new blue pitch unveiled during the centenary year.
Sikh Union Club Nairobi winners of the M R D’Souza Gold Cup 12 times
At 88, Avtar remains a familiar presence at Sikh Union — still following the game, still supporting the Club, and still serving the institution whose history he helped shape across seven remarkable decades.
Dil Bahra
Sikhs in Hockey