Olympian Anwar Ahmad Khan has been acclaimed as the greatest-ever centre-half to have set foot in the hockey arena. Acknowledged as the best in the Indo-Pak sub-continent in the 1950s, he continued to rule the world for the better part of two decades. He was the architect of Pakistan’s most famous conquests and the pivot around whom the team revolved in its golden era, leading them to three successive gold medals.

Anwar Ahmad Khan made his international debut during the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, where Pakistan reached the final for the first time. His extraordinary skills, learned in Bhopal, contained the mighty Indian forwards in the 1958 Asian Games in Tokyo, where Pakistan clinched the gold medal ahead of their arch-rivals.

He played an even bigger role in Pakistan’s sensational title triumph in the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, where they finally brought India down to earth. The momentum was sustained in the 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta, where Pakistan clinched their third successive gold. Ahmad Khan was regarded as the greatest centre-half in the world of hockey for being an impossibly-gifted all-round player who never let the opposition beat him. His inspirational brilliance is still remembered by his colleagues and contemporaries.

According to Munir Dar, himself one of the greats of his era, Anwar Ahmad Khan’s anticipation was splendid, and his stick work was brilliant. His stoppage was accurate, and his distribution could not be intercepted. He used to move all the time with his forwards and whenever the inners were blocked, he used to open the game through the wingers. He played in his corridor and used to cover both the full backs whenever they were beaten.

He used to deceive the opponents’ defence with his body while feeding his forwards. If he had to pass the ball to the inside-left on top of the circle, he would move towards his right and, after drawing the opposing right-back to
Friday,July 26, 2024