Kuldip Singh

Kuldip was born in Punjab, India on 23rd June 1946, and arrived in Hong Kong at four years of age in October 1950 with his mother and three brothers to join his father, who, earlier on, had gone to Hong Kong from India with the British (Indian) Armed Forces towards the end of the II World War in 1945.

 

Growing up in Hong Kong, Kuldip was known by the name of Kuldip Singh. and after leaving for Canada in 1969, he had to change it to Kuldip Singh Gosal as he was required to use his family name of ‘Gosal’ in order not to cause any confusion with a lot of other people with the same name.

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Kuldip speaks Punjabi, English, Cantonese, and a bit of French and Hindi.

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Growing up, Kuldip inherited his love and skill in all kinds of sports from his father, Bhagat Singh Gosal, who was quite an athlete himself throughout his life as he was an outstanding long-distance runner while he was in the Army, as well as him placing second in two other races in Hong Kong in 1950 and 1959;  As a race-walker, he placed second in the First Hong Kong Round-the-Colony Walkathon in 1956, and almost won the race the following year when he was leading by about 12 minutes ahead of the rest of the other racers, but he was overcome by unconsciousness and had to drop out of the race within sight of the finish line which was about 400 yards away. In field hockey, he represented Hong Kong for 10 years from 1948-58, and captained the team for 4 years from 1954-58. Kuldip and his father were the only father-son combination playing on the same hockey team in Hong Kong, starting from 1962-66.

 

From the beginning in Hong Kong, Kuldip excelled in many sports activities such as athletics, soccer, field hockey, table tennis, badminton, squash, etc., starting from primary school (at Sir Ellis Kadoorie School in 1952). In secondary school (in Form 7, 8, 9, at Sir E.K.S.), and then, from 1962-69, in track and field events, at Queen’s College, from 1962-67. Kuldip won the Individual Champion Trophy five years in a row during the annual Sports Day. Then at Northcote College of Education from 1967-69 where he won the Individual Sports Trophy two years in a row, as well as won the Hong Kong Post-Secondary Schools ‘Omega Sportsman of the Year Trophy’ in 1968. On top of that, Kuldip either set or tied numerous track and field records throughout the years in the events he entered in. He also represented the Y.M.C.A. Track and Field Team in various events such as in the high jump, the long jump, the triple jump, the pentathlon, etc., in the 1967-69 Colony Championships. Since the YMCA 4X100M relay team was considered among one of the top teams in Hong Kong, and he was a team member that meant that he was quite a speedy runner.

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At the age of 18, Kuldip participated in Field Hockey at his first Olympic Games in the 1964 Tokyo Games where he scored his one and only goal at the Olympic stage in a 1-2 loss to Canada. Then, lo and behold, 12 years later (at the age of 30 years), he represented Canada, also in Field Hockey, at the 1976 Montreal Olympics!

 

Being one of the top scorers and players in the league matches in the mid-to-late 1960’s, and after the 5th Asian Games in Bangkok in 1966, Kuldip was selected in April 1967 as one of two hockey players from Hong Kong (with Harnam Singh Grewal) to the Asian ‘All-Stars’ Hockey Team to tour Asia by the Asian Hockey Confederation Congress. The team was to tour Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia, and Singapore during the second half of June, and would then reassemble to tour Pakistan and India in November. However, these tours never materialized due to a lack of funding.

 

To top it all, Kuldip was selected to be the captain of the Hong Kong hockey team for two years from 1967-69 after which, he then left Hong Kong to study in Canada.

 

Relying on his hockey skills, and with great speed and stamina, he was honoured with the title of the ‘Flying Sikh’ by the Hong Kong newspapers from April 1967 onwards.

 

Kuldip was also honoured with being selected to be the Coach of the Hong Kong University Hockey Team at the 11th Biennial Inter-Varsity Games held in Hong Kong in December 1967. Then in September 1969, Kuldip left for Canada to study in Physical Education at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec where he graduated in June 1972 with a B.ED. Degree in Education and a Diploma in Physical Education (both at the same time). He then taught Physical Education in the same elementary school for 35 and a half years and retired in July 2008. He then worked six more years as a substitute P.E. teacher until September 2014.

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After arriving in Canada 1969, Kuldip played, captained, coached, and managed in many capacities in field hockey with both men’s and women’s teams until about 1997.

 

Kuldip had returned to Hong Kong for a short visit with his family in July 1977 and got married there in August of the same year. As of January 2023, Kuldip and his wife (who also retired last year) have three sons and two grandchildren. They look forward to retiring to a life of relaxation and travel in the future!