His trademark deflection goals found the roof of the net, spun sideways and were difficult to defend, said his Negeri Sembilan 70s teammate, right-winger Soffian Abdullah.

“He was blessed with an uncanny awareness of where to run, when to run there, and how to get the ball past the keeper,” Soffian said.

He was paying tribute to Kuldip, who died from a haemorrhagic stroke on Tuesday.

Kuldip was on life support in hospital after he sustained a head injury in a fall at his house in Temiang the previous day. He would have been 69 on Nov 1.

Former journalist, Ronnie Krishnan, who covered hockey in the state, said Kuldip’s on-pitch predatory skills were a delight to spectators and a nightmare to defenders.

“In one-on-one situations, goalkeepers were intimidated by the power and guile of Kuldip who found ingenious ways to score,” he said.

Krishnan said it was unfortunate that the Negri Sembilan Hockey Association did not have records of the number and types of goals scored by Kuldip and other players.

Kuldip was among several Negeri Sembilan players in the 70s, including Brian Sta Maria, N Palanisamy, Michael Yan and James D’Cruz, who shone at national and international arenas.

Krishnan said there were still a lot of “what ifs” with Kuldip’s career that saw a short one-year spell with the national team.

Kuldip’s major honours came in 1975 with a Razak Cup winner’s medal followed by Malaysia’s silver at the East Asia tournament in Jakarta, and the gold at the Bangkok SEAP Games.

Three-time World cupper and Olympian, R Ramakrishnan, recalled that Kuldip’s performance in the Razak Cup that year against a strong Selangor side earned him a call-up to the national team.

“He was a lynchpin with his speed, aggressiveness and positional awareness, always posing a threat to defenders,” said Ramakrishnan who played for Selangor, laden with internationals, in the match.

He said Kuldip’s opportunistic instincts and knack for deflection goals featured prominently in international matches.

Kuldip’s other overseas assignments were the Rene Frank Invitational and Nehru Memorial Cup, both in India.

The victorious SEAP Games squad played at the Rene Frank meet in Madras while Negri Sembilan figured at the Nehru Memorial in New Delhi as a reward for winning the Razak Cup.

For a man who breathed and lived hockey, Kuldip did not want his son, Sachdev, to play the sport.

Sachdev said his father wanted him to excel in taekwondo, which he did in style as a middleweight, winning the gold medal at the Sukma Games in 2004, before achieving several more triumphs on both the domestic and international stage.

Kuldip, an ex-Tenaga Nasional Berhad employee, is survived by his wife, Kanchana Yee Kaur, daughter Harveen Kaur, Sachdev and three grandchildren.