There are many Pakistani sportsmen who are relatively unknown in the country despite having excelled in their individual sport and achieved world fame and recognition in it. This article highlights three champions who remain largely obscure and unacclaimed in their own homeland.Hissam Ali Hyder (Polo)

Polo is an ancient sport of Persian origin, which was originally a training game for special cavalry units to sharpen their horsemanship skills for battle. It became popular among the nobility and was introduced to the Indo-Pak subcontinent through Muslim conquerors and rulers.

The modern game is played on a grass field and is divided into six periods of seven and a half minutes each, called chukkas. Each team has four players and each player is assigned a handicap according to his ability in competitions. The more skilled a player, the higher the handicap. The maximum handicap is 10 while the lowest can be a minus rating like -1 or -2.

Pakistan has produced some high quality polo players over the years. Our leading exponent of the game today is Hissam Ali Hyder. Hissam was born in 1982 into a polo playing family, where his father Capt. Irfan Ali Hyder and his grandfather Brigadier ‘Gussy’ Hyder were both active polo players. Hissam learnt riding at the tender age of three and started playing polo when he was just eleven.

His international career began in the UAE when he was 18. A year later while waiting to commence higher studies in the US he decided to spend six months in England as his visa was delayed in the wake of 9/11. Fate, however, had something different in store for him. In England he met John Horsewell, one of the world’s leading polo coaches, who took him under his wing. Hissam never looked back. He joined the exclusive and elitist Guards Polo Club and turned professional at the age of 19. Adopting polo as a career he became a regular feature on the sport’s English circuit, which along with Argentina’s is the biggest in the world.

Hissam is presently rated among the top 5% of polo players of the world and is considered the best Asian player in the game today. He has a handicap of 6, which is the highest handicap held by a Pakistani polo player in the last 30 years. He has been named as the most valuable polo player of Pakistan on 6 occasions and has been in the winning team in 7 National Polo Championships. He has represented Pakistan in 4 Polo World Cups and participated in innumerable international tournaments.

Hissam’s long list of international competitions include the Dubai Trophy in England, the Duke of Cornwall Trophy, the Valerie Halford Memorial Trophy, the Royal Windsor Cup, the Thai Polo Open and the Cope Presidente among many others. He has also participated in the final of the Estimulo in Argentina, which is deemed to be one of the most competitive tournaments of the International polo circuit. In 2016 he became the first Asian player to be chosen for the Commonwealth team in the Coronation Cup and his side won this prestigious tournament by defeating England in the final. He has also played snow polo, playing for the Cartier team in the St. Moritz Snow Polo Cup when he scored the winning goal in the final.

Hissam divides his time between Lahore, England and Argentina, which he credits with the highest level of polo in the world. In England he lives in Windsor where he also owns a stable with 10-12 ponies and feels that 70% of the game of polo is in the skill of the horses. A good thoroughbred polo pony can run as fast as 40 mph and maneuver deftly atvthis speed. In Windsor he rubs shoulders with the English aristocracy and royalty and is also a Director of the Royal Guards Club.

Haider Ali

(Paralympics)

Paralympics are the Olympic Games for para-athletes, a term applied to disabled athletes. Competitors are divided into three broad categories, namely deaf athletes, athletes with physical disabilities and athletes with intellectual disabilities. The latter two categories are further sub-divided by a classification system that defines the nature of the disability.

Haider Ali is Pakistan’s most successful para-athlete. He was born in Gujranwala in 1984 with cerebral palsy and has right sided hemiparesis. Since he is still ambulant and not wheelchair bound, he qualifies for the F-37/38 category in competitions.

Haider took up sports seriously upon entering college. His big break came in 2006, when he was chosen to represent Pakistan at the Far Eastern and South Pacific multi-sport Games for the disabled, being held in Kuala Lumpur. Commonly known as the FESPIC Games they were subsequently re-designated as the Asian Para Games.

Haider was an outstanding success in these games winning four medals in the F37 category, including a gold medal in the long jump and silver medals in the 100 metres, 200 metres and the discus throw. He was a natural selection for the 2008 Paralympics being held in Beijing. He created history by becoming the first Pakistani to win a medal in the Paralympics. His leap of 6.44 metres in the long jump tied him with the Tunisian Farhat Chida and was a joint world record in the event. With two no-jumps out of six, Haider lost out to the Tunisian on countback and had to settle for second place and the silver medal. He also narrowly missed out on a medal in the discus throw where his effort of 43.95 metres placed him in 4th position.

In the 2010 Asian Para Games in Guangzhou, Haider again performed creditably winning a gold medal in the long jump and a bronze medal in the 100 metres sprint. His jump of 6.43 metres set an Asian record for the event. At the 2012 Paralympics in London he was hampered by a hamstring injury and was unable to win any medals though he did qualify for the finals of both the 100 metres and the long jump events. He also made it to the finals of the long jump in the 2015 World Para Athletics Championships in Doha, but could not win a medal.

In 2016, Haider won the long jump at the Asia Oceania Para Games in Dubai and gained further success at the Paralympics held in Rio that year. At Rio, he became the first Pakistani to win a medal at two Paralympics when he jumped 6.28 metres in the long jump to obtain the bronze medal.

The 2018 Asian Para Games in Jakarta brought Haider more success. His scintillating performance earned him three medals, a gold in the discus throw with a heave of 47.33 metres, another gold in the javelin throw and a bronze in the long jump with a 6.20 meter leap. At the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai, Haider focused on the discus throw winning the silver medal with a personal best of 51.43 metres.

Haider is now training for the delayed Tokyo Paralympics and with further refinement of his technique, this 36 year old is confident of a 55 metre plus throw in the discus and a medal in the event.

Zia Mahmood (Bridge)

Bridge is a British game derived from the game of whist that was widely played in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is played by four players divided into two partnerships of two players each, who sit opposite each other around a playing table. It is a game of skill that tests reasoning, working memory, inferential thinking and teamwork.

Pakistan has produced many good bridge players over the years, the most renowned being Zia Mahmood. Zia was born in Karachi in 1946, but received most of his education in Britain, where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant. In his book ‘Bridge My Way’, Zia describes how his introduction to bridge was initiated by an invitation to a bridge party where he wanted to impress. To prepare, he read Arthur Sheinwold’s ‘Five Weeks to Winning Bridge’ and was soon enchanted by the game.

After six months of constantly reading about the game and playing it, he became truly addicted to it. Following a short family business stint in Pakistan and the UAE, he decided to take up bridge professionally in 1975.

In 1977, Zia with some other bridge enthusiasts, formed the Pakistan Bridge Association. Pakistan entered the Far East Bridge Championship in Hong Kong, where the tournament winner qualified for the World Bridge Championships. However, Pakistan’s refusal to play Taiwan, whom it did not recognize, cost them valuable points and any chance of winning. This pattern continued for a few years until 1981, when the World Bridge Federation created additional zones and Pakistan was included in the new Asia and Middle East zone. They won the zonal championship in Bangalore by beating India and qualified for the World National Team Bridge Championship, also called the Bermuda Bowl.

The Pakistan team consisted of 3 pairs, Zia Mahmood/Masood Salim, Nishat Abedi/Nisar Ahmed and Jan-e-Alam Fazli/ Munir Ataullah. The tournament was played on a double round-robin basis with the best four qualifying for the semi-finals. Much to everyone’s surprise Pakistan finished second overall. In the semifinals they beat the South American champions Argentina, and become the second ever team outside US and Europe to reach the finals where their opponents were the USA.

The final was played over 96 boards or games and at the halfway stage Pakistan led USA 95 points to 92, but USA clawed its way back to victory, leaving Pakistan in second place. Zia was acknowledged as one of the stars of the tournament.

The Rosenblum Cup, is the Open Teams World Bridge Championship with each team derived from one or multiple countries. In 1986, Team ‘Mahmood’ led by Zia and comprising Zia/Fazli and Nishat/Nisar again upset all predictions to reach the finals and finish as runners up.

Besides these successes for Pakistan, Zia has subsequently represented the USA as well in both these tournaments winning the Bermuda Bowl in 2009 after placing second in 2007. In the Rosenblum Cup he also finished second with the US team ‘Nickell’ in 2010.

Zia is the 10th highest ranked World Grand Master in Bridge. He has won over 50 leading international tournaments including team, pairs and individual competitions. He was given the ultimate accolade when Phillip and Robert King published a collection of bridge-related short stories titled Your Deal, Mr. Bond in which James Bond impersonates real-life bridge expert Zia Mahmood in order to combat a villain at the bridge table.

Fame in silhouettes and blots

Penumbral shadows we forgot

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