Sikhs impact at Tokyo Olympic Games – 1964 and 2020
by Dil Bahra
12 August 2021
Sikhs Players
Twenty two Sikhs representing Hong Kong; India; Kenya and Malaysia played at Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games.
Hong Kong's squad included three Sikhs, namely Harnam Singh Grewal; Kuldip Singh and Sarinder Singh Dillon.
India's Gold Medal winning squad at Tokyo 1964 included eight Sikhs, namely: Prithipal Singh; Dharam Singh; Gurbux Singh; Joginder Singh; Harbinder Singh; Darshan Singh; Jagjit Singh and Udham Singh. India's coach was a Sikh, Dharam Singh Sr.
Kenya's team, led by a Sikh, Avtar Singh Sohal included six Sikhs, namely Amar Singh Mangat; Avtar Singh Sohal (Capt); Kirpal Singh Bhardwaj; Santokh Singh Matharu; Surjeet Singh Panesar; Tejparkash Singh Brar. Kenya's coach was a Sikh, Hardial Singh Kular.
Malaysia's team included three Sikhs, namely Kartar Singh Chandra; Ranjit Singh Gurdit and Tara Singh Sindhu.
Gursewak Singh of India was on the Umpires panel at Tokyo 1964.
It is interesting to note that the International Hockey Federation asked Tanganyika to fill the place in Pool A at Tokyo 1964 that was vacated by United Arab Republic. Tanganyika had selected a team, which included five Sikh players - Jaswant Singh Sandhu; Rabinder Singh Gill; Tarlochan Singh Lall; Tarlochan Singh Sandhu and Sem Singh Bhachu. Tanganyika Olympic Association, however, withdrew the hockey team due to lack of funds. This place was then allocated to Indonesia.
The Indonesian hockey team had three Sikh players in their squad. The Indonesian Squad was in Tokyo but withdrew shortly before the Games began (The international federations for athletics (IAAF) and swimming (FINA) refused to allow athletes that competed in the unsanctioned 1963 Games of the Newly Emerging Forces (GANEFO). This resulted in the full withdrawal of the Indonesian (and North Korean) Olympic team).
At Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games there were thirteen Sikhs representing Canada and India.
Canada Men's team had one Sikh player, namely Sukhpal Singh Panesar.
India Men's team, led by a Sikh, Manpreet Singh included nine Sikhs, namely Dilpreet Singh; Rupinder Pal Singh; Manpreet Singh (capt); Hardik Singh; Gurjant Singh; Simranjeet Singh; Mandeep Singh; Harmanpreet Singh and Shamsher Singh;
India's Women team had three Sikh players - Gurjit Kaur; Navjot Kaur and Navneet Kaur.
Sikh Goal Scorers
At Tokyo 1964, Sikhs scored a total of 29 goals. India's Prithipal Singh, was the top goal-scorer at the hockey tournament with ten goals. Sikhs scored 17 of India's 22 goals. Harbinder Singh scoring five and Darshan Singh scoring two to add to Prithipal's ten.
Six of Kenya's ten goals were scored by Sikhs - Avtar Singh Sohal and Amar Singh Mangat with three goals each.
Kuldip Singh Gosal scored for Hong Kong against Canada in 1964 and in 1976 he represented Canada at Montreal Olympics.
At Tokyo 2020, Sikhs scored a total of 27 goals.
In the Men's tournament, Sikhs scored 22 of India's 25 goals. Harmanpreet Singh, India's drag-flicking expert was the top Indian goal-scorer with 6 goals. Rupinder Pal Singh scored 4; Simranjeet Singh and Gurjant Singh scoring 3 goals each; Dilpreet Singh and Hardik scoring 2 goals each and Mandeep Singh and Shamsher Singh with a goal each.
In the Women's tournament, Sikh scored five of India's 12 goals. Gurjit Kaur scored four goals and Navneet Kaur one goal.