 |
| This is at the Mahan Hall of Fame in Nairobi with Will Lobo, Delphine Da Costa, Ramesh Bhalla, Norman, Avtar and Surjeet. \ |
 |
| Sindhi with Malkit Singh Sondh, Olympic Village, Munich, 1972 |
 |
| Surjeet was chief guest of Silu Fernandes when he visited Toronto in 2017. |
 |
| Leo Fernandes, Silu Fernandes, Sindhi, Hilary Fernandes, Norman Da Costa |
 |
| Silu, Sindhi, Hilary ... a gallery of great icons |
AN ICON AT THE CENTRE OF ATTENTION
By Norman Da Costa
There was an aura around him when he
took his place at the centre of the field. Surjeet Singh Panesar - also known
as Sindhi or Junior - was always the centre of attention not only because of the
position he occupied on the field. Everything he did smacked elegance. He
mastered the art of pinpoint passing, timely tackling and deft dribbling. But
what elevated him to a higher level as one of the finest centre-halves in the
world was his vision. Gifted by this unique ability, this classy player could
open up holes in the opposing defences for his teammates. This great centre-half
for Kenya and Sikh Union passed away in Nairobi at the age of 81 after a brief
illness on Nov. 6, 2019. He leaves behind his wife Deepi and a family spread across
England, Canada and the United States.
His
death has left many fans and his international teammates speechless. This
doesn’t come as a surprise as Sindhi endeared himself to his teammates and supporters
alike always put his team ahead of individual accolades
.
“Sindhi, as we used to call him, was in his
day one of the best centre-halves in the world,” said ex-international teammate
Edgar Fernandes who lives in Melbourne. “His death leaves me speechless, but he
will be remembered and admired for not only for his exceptional ability in hockey,
but his outstanding personality.”
Edgar was Sindhi’s
Olympic teammate and also played at the club level against him for several
years for Nairobi Goan Institute against the Sikh Union. Edgar was one of
Kenya’s three greatest wizards of the dribble in the game along with Hilary
Fernandes and Sindhi.
Surjeet was one of
three players to represent Kenya at four Olympics with the late left-winger Alu
Mendonca and full-back Avtar Singh who were both selected for a world X1 during
Kenya’s heydays. Surjeet was born in Nairobi and received his early hockey training
in India at the Maharaja Patiala Public School and Patiala University where he was
trained by the legendary Harbail Singh, who coached India to Olympic gold in
Helsinki in 1952 and Melbourne in 1956. On returning to Nairobi he joined Sikh
Union, the most dominant club team in East Africa, with whom he hoisted the
M.R. de Souza Gold Cup, the Blue Riband of hockey tournaments in Africa, a
record 13 occasions. While he made his mark as a centre half the versatile
Surjeet started his international career as a centre forward and ended it as a
full back. He won his first international cap on May 29, 1960 against Uganda up
front as the centre half position was filled by the great Surjeet Singh Deol.
To differentiate between the two Surjeets, Deol was called Senior and Sindhi
was universally referred to as Junior. Junior made an immediate impact in his
international debut with two goals in Kenya’s 4-0 triumph and eventually moved
to centre half when Senior retired following the East African Championships in
Zanzibar in 1962. The versatile Sindhi, who also filled in as a fullback, earned
more than a 100 caps and was an integral member of the national team ever since
1960 when he was picked for the Olympics in Rome where Kenya finished eighth. He
was a member of Kenya’s greatest teams in the 1960s and ’70s including Tokyo
four years later where the country finished sixth. A couple of right bounces
and Kenya could have ended on the Olympic podium in Tokyo but it was never to
be. Kenya was eighth in Mexico in 1968 and 13th in Munich in 1972
where Sindhi played in his last international after a record 31 Olympic
matches.
Fellow
internationals Silu Fernandes and Hilary Fernandes, who both now reside in
Toronto, heaped praise on their teammate.
“My
friend and teammate Surjeet dazzled the opposition with his style
internationally, at home and abroad and at the Olympics,” said Silu Fernandes,
who played for the Railway Goan Institute and was vice-captain of the national
team. “He will surely rank as among the best in the world.” And Hilary
Fernandes, who played against Surjeet for Kenya Police and the Railway Goan
Institute and later as his teammate on Sikh Union, added, “Surjeet was a
natural and gifted hockey player.
“I enjoyed playing alongside him on one of the
finest club teams ever for almost five of my glorious hockey playing years.”
Amar Singh, another Sikh Union and Kenya teammate, who lives in Calgary, considered
Surjeet one of the greats of Kenya hockey. “He was one of Sikh Union’s most
outstanding players and I will always remember that when I captained the club
he was always punctual.”
Full-back Raphael Fernandes played with Surjeet in
his later years. “He was my mentor and he always referred to me as his son. I learned
a lot from Surjeet and always tried to portray him,’’ said Fernandes who also
resides in Toronto.
Apart from being an exceptional
player, Sindhi also made a fashion statement for being stylishly dressed and
always perfectly groomed.
One of Surjeet’s closest friends
was teammate and full back Avtar Singh, who I was fortunate to make contact with
two days ago, while he is vacationing in India.
“Right from the start of our
careers we were close family friends,’’ said Avtar. “There was great understanding among us, on the field and
off the field, we had a fantastic time and you know about it.”
Avtar,
who lives in Nairobi, added he and Surjeet engaged in a competition when it
came to taking penalty hits. “If I missed he would take the next one. I will
miss a great guy.”
Uganda’s international centre-forward Malkit
Singh came face to face with Surjeet on several occasions at the club level and
internationally. The dashing centre forward for Kampala Sikh Union played
against Surjeet from 1964 to 1972 in the Gold Cup and in the East African championships. “Sindhi was a legend; he invented the scoop shot which
became his signature play. I always remember him as the defensive backbone of
the Kenya & Nairobi Sikh Union teams,’’ added Malkit who lives in England. “He
was naturally talented, intelligent and a very good game reader of the game. He
loved to dress well, had an immaculate beard and turban, loved cooking and
enjoyed his whisky.”
Sindhi was a field hockey icon and I had the
unique opportunity of playing against him for the RGI and also reporting on who
in my opinion was one of the greatest centre-halves of his era that included some
extraordinary Indians and Pakistanis. Off the field, he was a dapper individual
with a sense of good clothing and an immaculate beard and turban. I recently
met Surjeet in Nairobi in 2018 when I and my wife Delphine were invited to Sikh
Union by him, Avtar, Del Mudher and Ramesh Bhalla. They presented me with an
autographed brochure of the club at the newly-built Mahan Hall of Fame that
houses photographs of all of the club’s capped players. Of course, no visit
would be possible without Sindhi cooking his world-famous chicken koroga dish. We
then visited this talented architect’s house he designed on the outskirts of
Nairobi. We were invited to this fabulous house along with Willie Lobo, a
former soccer goalkeeper with Kisumu Hotstars and photographer Anil Vidyarthi,
my colleague for several years with the Daily Nation.
His garden was a picture of colour and
included a fish pond, a waterfall and a huge barbeque area tended by his wife
Deepi. Farewell, my friend. My other regret about the passing away of an icon
was that I will never receive the koroga recipe he had promised me.
Comments