On 2 August 2025 The Hockey Museum (THM) trustee Tochi Panesar attended a ceremony in London, England where special pins were presented to Kenyan hockey Olympians living in the United Kingdom, Australia, India, Pakistan and Kenya, as well as to relatives of deceased Olympians.

The event was organised by the Kenya Olympians Association in collaboration with the World Olympians Association (WOA) – a global alliance of 112 member countries founded in 2017. One of the aims of the WOA is to celebrate and promote lifetime recognition for Olympians as role models within their communities and as ambassadors for sport and Olympic values. The WOA grants Olympic athletes the right to formally use the letters “OLY” after their name – the OLY pins symbolise this prestigious honour and pin ceremonies like the one in London take place all over the world.

More information about WOA: Introduction | World Olympians Association

 

 

The Pins Ceremony

The driving force and ‘lynchpin’ for this event was a very humble Surjit Singh Rihal OLY, the Regional Sports Director (UK/Europe) of the Kenya Olympians Association. Surjit was a formidable Kenya hockey player in his prime who participated in 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany and was captain of the Kenyan team for 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, Canada. Ultimately, Kenya would withdraw from the Montreal Games at the eleventh hour due political reasons. Surjit also captained Kenya at the men’s Hockey World Cup in Amstelveen, Netherlands in 1973.

Present at the ceremony were 11 living Olympians; a further nine living Olympians were represented by their nominees (unable to attend because of the distance or ill health) and 15 deceased Olympians were represented by their families. Fittingly, the event began with a one-minute silence in remembrance of those Olympians no longer with us. A list of all Kenya hockey Olympians can be found at the end of this article.

 

 

To start the ceremony, Surjit introduced the first recipient Edgar Fernandes OLY (1960 & 1964 Olympic Games) who had travelled from Australia. The rest of the Olympians were introduced one at a time and each received their OLY pins from Mike Miller, CEO of the WOA, and Sarah Lewis OLY OBE, Chairperson of the Great Britain Olympians Association. Certificates were awarded by Anuj Desai OLY, Deputy Secretary General of the Kenya Olympians Association. Tochi attended as THM’s representative and to receive the OLY pin of Rome 1960 Olympian Jagnandan Singh whose descendants were unable to be there.

At the end of the ceremony, Edgar addressed the gathering on behalf of the gathered Kenyan Olympians. He was very pleased to meet his teammates and re-connect with some of the younger Olympians whom he had taught in high school in Nairobi.

The entire event was recorded live and you can watch it in full from the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/live/iPiuuJzyAcQ

 

 

Tochi said:

“It was a real pleasure to attend this prestigious event for a country I lived in from 1959 to 1971 before emigrating to the UK. We all know the Olympic Games is the biggest stage in sport, so I was pleased to attend this unique ceremony, the award of OLY pins and certificates to all past and present Kenya hockey Olympians from 1956 onwards. It was a joy to catch up with so many and a delight to see Surjit being helped so admirably by his son Kulraj Singh Rihal and daughter Navreet Kaur Rihal. Well done.”

The Kenya Olympians event was held at Blue Orchid’s newest hotel at 55 Broadway in Westminster. 55 Broadway is a Grade I listed building dubbed ‘London’s first skyscraper’. It stands at just over 53 metres offering panoramic views of the London skyline. It was constructed between 1927-’29 as the headquarters for the Underground Electric Railways Company of London, the main forerunner of London Underground. The building won the RIBA London Architecture Medal upon its completion. Today, it is being refurbished into a stunning multi-purpose event space with 4 rooftop terraces – another fantastic hotel owned by Tony Matharu, a friend of THM.

 

List of Kenyan OLY pin recipients

Living hockey Olympians in attendance
1. Edgar Fernandes
2. Davinder Singh Deegan
3. Harvinder Singh Marwa
4. Brajinder Daved
5. Amarjeet Singh Marwa
6. Surjit Singh Rihal
7. Harvinderpal Singh Sibia
8. Ranjit Singh Sehmi
9. Jitender Singh Panesar
10. Manjeet Singh Panesar
11. Sunil Chhabra

Living hockey Olympians represented by a nominee
1. Reynold Anthony D’Souza
2. Avtar Singh Sohal
3. Krishan Kumar Aggarwal
4. Ajmal Malik
5. Tarlochan Singh Channa
6. Resham Singh Bains
7. Sarabjit Singh Sehmi
8. Sanjiwan Kumar Goyal
9. Inderjit Singh Matharu

Fallen hockey Olympians
1. Anthony Querobino Vaz
2. Surjeet Singh Deol
3. Gursaran Singh Sehmi
4. Tejparkash Singh Brar
5. Michael Estevao Pereira
6. Balbir Singh Sidhu
7. Surjeet Singh Panesar
8. Egbert Carmo Fernandes
9. Kirpal Singh Bhardwaj
10. John Levon Simonian
11. Jagnandan Singh
12. Pritam Singh Sandhu
13. Santokh Singh Matharu
14. Parminder Singh Saini
15. Jagmel Singh Rooprai