KUALA LUMPUR: Four-time Olympian Avtar Singh Sohal wants to help revive hockey in Kenya.
Avtar, who represented Kenya's national team from 1957-72, started the Nairobi Sikh Union junior programme last year to groom young players.
The 85-year-old, who is the coach of the Nairobi Sikh Union juniors, brought 22 teenagers to Kuala Lumpur to watch the Junior World Cup. While here, they will also play friendly matches.
The octogenarian, who was the national Kenya coach from 1978-1988, said he plans to groom young Sikh players for the Kenyan national junior and senior teams.
"In the 60s and 70s, Kenya were a formidable team in the world and we did well in our first World Cup in Barcelona in 1971 to finish fourth.
"We used to have a lot of Sikhs representing Kenya's national team in the past but today we don't even have a single Sikh player in the national team," said Avtar.
"But most of the juniors are Sikh players and we brought them to Malaysia to play friendly matches with the Matador Club and with the Jiwa Mohan Academy," said Avtar.