Men’s Hockey Team

In the 60s all through to the 90s, Kenya had one of the strongest hockey teams on the international table. This historical sport that dates back to 19th century England gained so much popularity that football and rugby became its rivalry. The game’s structure commanded team players to hit a ball, on a 90m x 50m field, off the ground in an attempt to score a goal in a net guarded by the opposing team’s goal keeper. The first professional hockey team was formed in 1849 and the teams they played against remains a mystery.

Hockey turns 87 in Kenya this year with our men’s team’s first overseas appearance (post-independence) at the 1964 Olympic Games where the team finished 6th overall after battling against strong teams from Pakistan and Japan. The victories over European teams such as Britain and New Zealand – who were also strong contenders, remain sensational in our hockey legend books.

7 years later, The International Hockey Federation organized the first hockey world cup in Barcelona and our players went in well able. Their first game against France was a slight disappointment and they lagged on their second against India’s powerful players. By the third game, our team was ready to battle out Germany where they won with a three nil win followed by another successful game against Argentina. The totals from all four games brought us into the pitch once again with West Germany, an easy win for our champions who qualified for the semi-final round.

The play offs against Spain left us trailing as did the final game against India. In the end, our men’s hockey team came in fourth out of the 15 teams that participated. It was a colossal experience for the players and for Kenya – the only African nation that qualified for the world cup.

The team included; Avtar Singh Sohal (Team Captain), Tarlochan Singh Channa, Jagjit Singh Kular, Havinder Singh Marwa – who scored goals, as well as other notable members, Surjeet Singh Panesar (Vice Captain), Leo Fernendes, Surjit Singh Rihal, Amarjeet Singh Marwa, Brajinder Daved, Resham Singh Bains, Santokh Singh Matharu and Ravinder Singh Lally.

Another of our outstanding victories was during the All Africa Games in 1987 held in Nairobi where as the host country, our team was eager to win – it was, after all, a big deal. We won all our games which were against Ghana (5-0), Nigeria (5-1), Tanzania (10-0), Egypt (2-0) and Zambia (16-0). There was no goal scored in our game against Zimbabwe and our team not only won the hockey trophy, we qualified for the 1988 Olympics. The saluted players of this team were; Chris Otambo, Ranjeev Deol, Paul Omany, Simi Goyal, Michael Omondi, Peter Akatsa, Lucas Alubaha, Zack Aura, Kenneth Nyongesa and Meshack Senge

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