The newly-born country of Pakistan participated in the 1948 London Olympics in seven disciplines namely athletics, boxing, cycling, hockey, swimming, weightlifting and wrestling. Hockey represented their best chance of any reasonable success.

Pakistan were captained by A.I.S. Dara, who had played for India in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. They were seeded fourth even though this was their debut in Olympic hockey. The team played well in their preliminary matches beating Belgium 2-1, Denmark 9-0, France 3-1 and a powerful Netherlands team by the big margin of 6-1. Dara scored three goals in the match against the Netherlands.

In the semi-finals, Pakistan were defeated 2-0 by Great Britain. The bronze medal match between Pakistan and Netherlands was drawn after extra-time. It was replayed the following day when Netherlands triumphed 4-1, leaving Pakistan in fourth position.

For the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki Pakistan were led by the fullback Niaz Khan and again reached the semi-finals. Once more Netherlands proceeded to be an obstacle and beat them 1-0 in a tight match. In the play-off for the bronze medal they were narrowly beaten 2-1 by Great Britain. A medal still eluded them and the side once more finished fourth.

The 1956 Olympics were held in Melbourne, Australia. A strong Pakistani team was led by the famous Abdul Hameed, popularly known as Hameedi. An outstanding inside right he was playing in his third Olympics, having represented Pakistan at both the London and Helsinki games.

The side also fielded two players who had represented the gold medal winning Indian side of 1948 and had now migrated to Pakistan. They were Latif ur Rahman, the vice captain of the team, who played at the outside left position and the fullback Akhtar Hussain. The teams were divided into three groups. In the initial group matches Pakistan beat Belgium 2-0 and New Zealand 5-1. The final group match against West Germany ended in a roughly played out goalless draw.

Pakistan qualified for the semi-finals where they met Great Britain, who had beaten them both in 1948 and 1952. In the Olympic village the British inside left John Conroy teased the Pakistan team that he will beat them in 1956 also. Incensed, the Pakistan right fullback Manzoor Atif, the right-half Ghulam Rasool and the center-half Anwar Ahmad Khan made a special plan to tackle Conroy. He was nullified so effectively that he left the field before half-time. Pakistan led 2-0 at the interval, but Great Britain fought back to equalise. Pakistan had to fight hard to eventually triumph 3-2.

In the final Pakistan met India. It was a powerful Pakistani team. Goalkeeper Zakir , right fullback Manzoor Atif, left fullback Akhtar Hussain, right-half Ghulam Rasool, centre-half Anwar Ahmed Khan, left-half Habib Ali “Kiddie”, 0utside-right Noor Alam, inside-right Abdul Hameed Hameedi, centre-forward Habibur Rehman, inside-left Naseer Bunda and outside-left Motiullah. Just before the match both Akhtar Hussain and Habib “Kiddie” called in unfit and were replaced by Munir Dar and Qazi Mussarat respectively.

In the match the Pakistani centre-forward Habibur Rehman missed a certain goal from a penalty bully (the precursor of today’s penalty stroke) and India scored from a disputed penalty corner to win 1-0. Pakistan had to be content with the silver medal. They had come close to the top but not far enough.

Hockey was introduced to the Asian Games for the first time at Tokyo in 1958. Five teams participated in a round robin format. Pakistan scored heavily in its matches beating Japan 5-0, South Korea 8-0 and Malaya (now Malaysia) 6-0. In its final round robin match Pakistan met India. Since both teams were unbeaten the winner of this match would win the round robin format and with it the gold medal.

The Pakistan captain, “Hameedi”, had to leave the ground early as he dislocated his ankle following a charge by the Indian full-back Balkrishan Singh. It was a rough game and the Pakistani ambassador in Japan, Mr. Omar Hayat had to intervene to cool things down.

Naseer Bunda missed a sitter in front of an open goal and the centre-forward Afzal Manna had a shot from the top of the circle that rebounded off the goalpost bar. Despite much effort from both sides the match ended without a goal. On the points table, Pakistan and India had equal points with three wins and a draw each. Since it was a round robin format the winner was decided on the basis of goal average. Pakistan’s goal average of 19-0 was superior to India’s 16-1, and hence Pakistan was awarded the gold medal.

This was Pakistan’s first victory in an international hockey tournament. The team now had the nucleus for a very strong side. The next outing would be the 1960 Olympics in the eternal city of Rome. Pakistan had a date with destiny.

At Rome, Pakistan was placed in Group C and began with a comprehensive 3-0 victory against a strong Australian side. All three goals came in the second half in an eight minute burst of scoring, the scorers being Hameedi, Noor Alam and Mushtaq.

In the next match Pakistan overwhelmed Poland 8-0, scoring five goals in the first half and three in the second. The scorers were Hameedi with three goals, Waheed with two, Noor Alam, Motiullah and Naseer Bunda with one each. The final group match was against Japan who were swamped 10-0. Six goals came in the first half and four in the second. The goal scorers were Hameedi with four goals, Naseer Bunda with three, Waheed with two and Anwar Ahmed Khan with one.

Having topped their group Pakistan were drawn to play the United Team of Germany in the quarter-finals. Naseer Bunda opened the scoring for Pakistan in the 22nd minute and Pakistan stayed ahead by a solitary goal till half-time. Germany levelled through Delmes in the 52nd minute but ten minutes later Naseer Bunda scored his second goal of the match to seal a 2-1 victory for Pakistan. In the semi-finals, Pakistan played Spain and beat them by a single goal scored early in the first half, off a penalty corner, by Manzoor Atif.

Only India now stood between Pakistan and the gold medal. The final was a grand occasion. India was unbeaten in the Olympic Games since 1928. Pakistan had won the gold medal at the Tokyo Asian Games in1958, but only on goal average. It had yet to beat India.

The match started on a brisk note with attacks and counter attacks. Bunda and Hameedi both missed chances. Throughout the tournament Pakistan had focused on creating opportunities through the trio of Ghulam Rasool, Hameedi and Noor Alam on the right wing. In the 13th minute of the final, the mastermind Hameedi slipped a pass to his outside-right Noor Alam, who dodged the Indian left half and sent in a stinging cross. Naseer Bunda collected the cross at the top of the circle, sidestepped the Indian full back Prithipal Singh, drew the goal keeper Lakshman forwards and put the ball into the right side of the goal.

This was Pakistan’s first goal against India who retaliated with furious attacks. The Pakistani defense led by the cool Anwar Ahmed Khan stood firm and thwarted all Indian onslaughts. The final whistle had Pakistan ahead 1-0. History had been created; India’s 32 year dominance of hockey at the Olympics was over.

Pakistan’s rise to the position of the world’s leading hockey team was now complete. They received a rapturous reception on returning home. Karachi was still the national capital then and President Ayub Khan held a special reception for the winning team at the President’s House. It was during this ceremony that hockey was officially declared as the national sport of Pakistan.

Dr Salman Faridi is a senior surgeon, poet, sports aficionado and an avid reader with a private collection of over 7000 books

salmanfaridilnh@hotmail.com