Kuldip Singh Bhogal, fondly known as Deepa, was born in Mbale in Uganda, East Africa. His parents had emigrated to Uganda from Punjab in 1947.
He studied at Mbala Senior Secondary School from 1964 to 1967, captaining the School team in 1967. He moved to Kampala in early 1968 and joined Sikh Union Kampala, who had a strong hockey team, the same year.
He earned his first international cap, aged 18, for Uganda during the East African Championships held in Kampala, Uganda. He scored two goals on his debut in Uganda's 3 - 1 win against Tanzania on 4 August 1968. From that debut match he became a regular member of the Uganda Hockey team.
He was invited by Sikh Union Nairobi, one of the leading Clubs in Africa at the time, to play for the Club during the Club's tour of India in 1971.
He was selected to represent Uganda at the Munich 1972 Olympic Games. He scored four goals and his performance earned him selection for the World X1 at the Munch Olympic Games.
He emigrated to the USA in 1973 and played, captained and Coached the USA team at the Pan Am Games in Mexico in 1975.
He emigrated to the UK in 1993 and resides in London.
World X1 at Munich 1972 Olympic Games
The Munich 1972 Olympic Games were to have been followed by a special match between the Olympic Champions and a World XI. Horst Wein and Patrick Rowley had been charged with running and selecting the World XI. Because the hostage crisis at the Games caused a whole day of the Olympic programme to be lost, the Munich final was played on the day the World XI match should have been staged.
The 26 players short listed for the World XI were:
A Carrera (Spain); P Dearing (Australia); M Sikking (Holland); A Belavantheran (Malaysia); M Kindo (India); M Zaman (Pakistan); M Peter (W. Germany); A Solie (Belgium); Ajit Pal Singh (India); A Kumar (India); B Cotton (GB); H. Droese (W. Germany); F Fabregas (Spain); J Fabregas (Spain); F Rehman (Pakistan); B Govinda (India); R Haigh (Australia); Islahuddin (Pakistan); C Keller (W. Germany); T Kruize (Holland); Kuldip Singh Bhogal (Uganda); S Maister (New Zealand); S Anwar (Pakistan); M Shahnaz (Pakistan); Surjit Singh Rihal (Kenya); U Vos (W. Germany).