In the 1972 Olympics where he scored a total of four goals, he also scored against eventual Olympics champions West Germany in a group match that ended in a draw.Around 60 years ago, Kuldip Singh Bhogal’s father, Nanak Singh Bhogal, a carpenter, had broken his son’s hockey stick, wanting him to pursue a career in education.Bhogal, who was one of the nine Indian origin players in the 1972 Munich Olympics Uganda hockey team, had scored four goals in the event and was named in the World XI team that year.As the 76-year-old was in Chandigarh to launch his book ‘The Legend of 1972: Life, hockey and beyond’, an autobiography, published by Sikh Lens India, Bhogal was reminded of the day his father saw the 1976 Olympics promotional poster.“My father always wanted me to pursue a career in education. Once my photograph came in an Ugandan newspaper, he saw it and broke my stick. Years later, when one of my uncles brought the promotional poster of 1976 Montreal Olympics featuring me, he would proudly tell people, ‘Mera puttar hai’. That’s the power of sports and remains my biggest achievement of my lot — to play the Munich Olympics and make my country as well as parents proud,” the Olympian told The Indian Express.While his father was born in Saloh village near Nawanshahr in Punjab, Bhogal, who was the third of eight siblings, was born in Mbale, Uganda in 1950. His parents left India before the Independence and faced several hardships to raise their eight children.“When my parents emigrated from pre-independence India, they had to spend weeks in Mumbai waiting for the steamer ship to Uganda. It was a tough time for them and my father would work through extra shifts to support us,” he recalled.Bhogal said he was initially interested in playing tennis — a sport which his family could not afford, and it was a coincidence that he found himself in a hockey match.Story continues below this ad“My brothers would play for the school team and once a player did not come in their team and they wanted a replacement. So my initiation in hockey began by chance. Our school principal R D Kailash would also support me a lot.”Captain of the Mbale Senior Secondary School in 1967 and a player of Sikh Union Club in Kampala, Bhogal would make his Uganda debut at the age of 18 in 1968 when he played against Tanzania and scored two goals to help his team’s 3-1 win.The Olympian was also the best player in the All Africa Hockey Championship at Zambia in 1971, a year in which he also toured India as part of the Sikh Union Nairobi team along with Kenya Olympics player Avtar Singh Sohal.In the 1972 Olympics where he scored a total of four goals, he also scored against eventual Olympics champions West Germany in a group match that ended in a draw.Story continues below this adHe and his brother Ajit, were one of the three sets of brothers in the Ugandan team. His only Olympics that brought many fond memories also left sadness as the Munich games also saw a terrorist attack on the Israel team.“I was a big fan of 1968 Mexico Olympics bronze medal winning Indian hockey team forward Balbir Singh Kular. When the Indian team toured Uganda before the 1968 Olympics, I dodged forward Prithipal Singh. He would hit me on the shin as he would not want anybody to dodge him (laughs).”“At Munich, scoring the goal against West Germany in the group match in the 1-1 draw was one of the surreal moments. At the adjoining ground, Pakistan were playing Argentina and the whole crowd was watching that match. When I scored the goal, most of the crowd from that match came to watch us play. Our coach R S Gentle always encouraged and supported me. I was also named in the World XI but the match did not happen in Berlin due to the attacks. The Ugandan team was in the same building as Israel. These were tough times as a player,” the player added.Prior to the Munich Olympics, Uganda dictator and president Idi Amin had also ordered all Asians to be expelled from the country. While Bhogal’s family shifted to England earlier, he returned to Uganda post the Olympics and remembers one incident where he saved the life of a family friend.Story continues below this ad“During the Olympics too, Edi Amin would call the team manager to ask about the team performance. Post the Olympics, when I returned to Uganda, the situation was drastic in Uganda. One of my close friends, Nawaz Malik, and his family wanted to shift and I put on my Olympic blazer and took them to the airport. My teammate Paul Adiga was posted at airport security and I told him that they are my family. Seeing my blazer, all helped us and my friend and his family got away. Later I also shifted to the UK and then to the USA and later Canada, where I coached the USA hockey team in 1975 Pan American Games and was also the assistant coach for Canadian hockey team in 1976 Montreal Olympics,” the Olympian said.Currently based in England, Bhogal’s wish is to train poor kids in hockey. “I am training three poor kids, one of whom is a cab driver’s son in Kharar. Hockey has evolved in all these years but I want to contribute,” Bhogal concluded.Nitin Sharma is an Assistant Editor with the sports team of The Indian Express. Based out of Chandigarh, Nitin works with the print sports desk while also breaking news stories for the online sports team. A Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award recipient for the year 2017 for his story ‘Harmans of Moga’, Nitin has also been a three-time recipient of the UNFPA-supported Laadli Media Awards for Gender Sensitivity for the years 2022, 2023 and 2024 respectively. His latest Laadli Award, in November 2025, came for an article on Deepthi Jeevanji, who won India’s first gold medal at the World Athletics Para Championship and was taunted for her unusual features as a child. Nitin mainly covers Olympics sports disciplines with his main interests in shooting, boxing, wrestling, athletics and much more. The last 17 years with The Indian Express has seen him unearthing stories across India from as far as Andaman and Nicobar to the North East. Nitin also covers cricket apart from women’s cricket with a keen interest. Nitin has covered events like the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the 2011 ODI World Cup, 2016 T20 World Cup and the 2017 AIBA World Youth Boxing Championships. An alumnus of School of Communication Studies, Panjab University, from where he completed his Masters in Mass Communications degree, Nitin has been an avid quizzer too. A Guru Nanak Dev University Colour holder, Nitin’s interest in quizzing began in the town of Talwara Township, a small town near the Punjab-Himachal Pradesh border. When not reporting, Nitin's interests lie in discovering new treks in the mountains or spending time near the river Beas at his hometown. ... Read MoreStay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram© The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:Indian