Daily Times

(30 November 1936 ––– 21 February 2022)

LAHORE: Former Olympian and hockey great Abdul Waheed Khan passed away at the age of 86 in Karachi on Monday. According to details, Waheed was rushed to hospital after his health deteriorated on yesterday morning. However, he breathed his last even before reaching the medical facility. He will be laid to rest on Tuesday (today).

Born on 30th November 1936, in Rajpur Town of Madhya Pradesh in British India, Olympian Waheed played international hockey for Pakistan from 1960 to 1966. He appeared in 56 international matches and scored 52 goals. He was part of the Pakistan hockey team that won Pakistan’s first gold medal in hockey at Rome Olympics in 1960. Waheed, who used to copy Indian hockey legend Dyan Chand, was the first of Pakistan’s great center-forwards. He was followed by Pakistan greats Rasheedul Hasan and Hasan Sardar. It is said that Waheed was a trend setter in a sense he was the first center forward who would also fall back to help defence; something which was unheard of in his playing days. He also represented the Pakistan team that topped the podium at the 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta. At the 1962 Asian Games, Waheed scored a record number of 17 goals out of total 33 goals scored. His 17 goals included a double hat-trick also. This was Pakistan’s record of most numbers of goals by a player in a single tournament. It is still a record at the Asian Games. Under his managership, Pakistan claimed a hat-trick of gold medals in three major international events: World Cup, FIH Champions Trophy and Asian Games, all three in 1978. Waheed also wrote a book “Hockey –– How to become world champion”. Waheed was the manager of Pakistan hockey team in following the international tournaments and series and all of them were won by Pakistan:

1: Quaid-e-Azam Centenary International Tournament held in Lahore in 1976

2: 4th World Cup at Buenos Aires in 1978

3: First Champions Trophy held at Lahore in 1978

4: 8th Asian Games at Bangkok in 1978

5: Four-Match Indo-Pak hockey series in 1978 which Pakistan won 3-1

6: Asia Cup in 1985 in Dhaka.