Islahuddin Siddiqui, popularly known in hockey circles as just Islah, has given his autobiography the befitting title of ‘Dash’. It is a suitable word to describe the life story of a sportsman renowned for his lightning speed, both as an attacking forward and in his team’s defence of penalty corners. Islah’s name evokes memories of an earlier age when Pakistan reigned supreme in world hockey, dazzling audiences with the skill and agility of its players.Born in Meerut in 1948, Islah was only two years old when his family migrated to Pakistan and settled in Karachi. He showed an early affinity for sports, displaying ability in both hockey and cricket. When he was in the sixth grade he was chosen in his school’s side for the city’s inter-school hockey tournament, interestingly in the position of a right half. In his senior school years he captained the school team and also began playing for a local hockey club called Karachi Heroes. His skills won him a sports scholarship to Islamia College, where his peers included a budding cricketer Zaheer Abbas and an upcoming actor Nazeer Baig who would gain acclaim in the film industry as the famous Nadeem.

Islah was soon installed as the captain of the Islamia College team and during his very first year at the college, in 1965, was invited for the trials to select Karachi’s teams for the National Championship. His talent won due recognition as he was chosen to play for the Karachi-B team as their right-in. The Championship was being held in Lyallpur, now known as Faisalabad, and Islah who had played mostly on mud surfaces, felt that his limited experience on grassy fields would be a handicap. With a paucity of suitable grass grounds to train on, Islah found an unusual alternative. Along with a few hockey playing friends, he decided to practice on the grassy surface of the wide traffic islands dividing traffic lanes in the newly built Karimabad township. Everyday he would reach the area early in the morning and put in three hours of hard work before the traffic picked up, providing quite a sight for passing motorists and onlookers. In addition to practicing his hockey skills on grass, Islah also focused on developing speed and stamina with 200 metres, 400 metres and 800 metres runs at the college.

Islah’s dedication and commitment paid off and his performance in the National Championship won him an offer to play for KPT, who also gave him a monthly stipend for his efforts. In 1966, he represented the Karachi-A side in the National Championship, impressing sufficiently to earn a place in the trials scheduled to select players for the national training camp, from where Pakistan’s team to play against a visiting Dutch side would finally be chosen. Islah made it to the national camp, and to his extreme delight, was also picked for Pakistan’s playing squad. The year was 1967 and he had arrived.

Though he did not get to play in any of the Tests, Islah did play in a side match against the touring Holland side and even scored a goal in a 2-1 victory for his team. Later that year, in a fixture between the KPT and the famous Pakistan Customs, he scored the only goal of the match, resulting in an offer to join Pakistan Customs as an employee, which Islah did after overcoming some resistance from his father who wanted him to complete his graduation before taking up a job. The Pakistan Customs team was the best hockey unit in the country at the time, with the likes of Anwar Ahmed Khan, Habib Ali Kiddie and Abdul Waheed in their ranks and Islah was thrilled to be in such exalted company.

In 1968 Islah was again invited to the national camp but was surprisingly omitted from the Pakistan squad for the Mexico Olympics that year. He was, however, picked for the team’s first assignment after the Olympics, a lengthy European tour in 1969, in which Pakistan won 21 out of 23 matches and drew the remaining two. An international tournament in Lahore followed where Pakistan fielded two teams, with Islah in the Pakistan Juniors squad. Such was the bench strength of Pakistan hockey in those days that in the tournament’s semifinals Pakistan Juniors beat Australia, finalists of the previous year’s Olympics, by a 2-0 margin, with Islah scoring both goals. His compatriots in the Juniors team included Shahnaz Shaikh, Akhtarul Islam and Fazlur Rahman.

The 1970 Asian Games in Bangkok was Islah’s first exposure to a major international tournament and he acquitted himself well, as Pakistan won the gold medal. This was followed by the inaugural World Cup in 1971, which was originally scheduled to be held in Lahore, but was moved to Barcelona because of political unrest in Pakistan. Pakistan reached the finals where their opponents were the hosts, Spain. Pakistan’s ace inside left Asad Malik was injured and his place for the match was taken by Islah, who played as an inside left for the first and only time in his international career. Pakistan beat Spain to lift the trophy, completing the Grand Slam of hockey, by winning the Olympics, the Asian Games and now the World Cup.

The next international outing for the Pakistan team was the 1972 Munich Olympics and Islah was by now the established inside-right of the side and had also become the team’s main dasher when defending penalty corners. After a somewhat patchy performance in the pool matches, Pakistan qualified for the semifinals where they met India. Islah had sustained an ankle injury and was uncertain about his fitness for the dasher’s role. To complicate matters further, the outside right Umar Farooq had shown indifferent form and in a major move the team management decided to shift Islah from the right-in position to that of right-out.

In a career defining watershed, Islah displayed his supreme ability in both roles. He played exceptionally well on the right flank, using his speed to make repeated raids deep into the Indian defense. Due to Islah’s neutralizing skill when defending penalty corners, India were unable to score despite earning seventeen long and short corners, with Islah’s stick intervening between the ball and the goal on each occasion. In fact one of the hits by India’s penalty corner expert Mukhbain Singh was struck with such force that it broke Islah’s stick into two. Islah’s speedy dashes were noted by the game officials and he was subjected to dope testing after the match because they could not believe that such speed could be achieved without the aid of performance enhancing agents. The results, of course, were negative, further cementing Islah’s position as the world’s fastest hockey player. In fact so impressed was the Indian captain Ajitpal Singh, that he nicknamed Islah as the ‘smiling assassin.’

In the final Pakistan lost to Germany by a solitary goal in a bad tempered match. The petulance displayed by the Pakistani team on the victory stand, turning their backs while the German national anthem was being played, Shahnaz Shaikh dangling his medal from his slipper and the captain Asad Malik receiving his medal through a handshake instead of wearing it round his neck, led to bans for all the playing members of the team.

Islah had taken to the role of an outside-right like a duck takes to water. It was an ideal position to showcase his speed and make threatening inroads into the opposition’s defense and he made it his own upon returning to the team after a six month ban. The occasion was the Asian Games in Tehran in 1974 and Pakistan won the gold medal beating traditional rivals India in the final which was originally drawn 1-1, with Pakistan prevailing 2-0 in the replay the following day.

Rasheed Junior was Pakistan’s captain for the 1975 World Cup in Kuala Lumpur, but he was carrying a shin injury and sat out the tournament on the sidelines, leaving Islah to lead the side in all it’s matches. Pakistan started sluggishly but gathered momentum as the tournament progressed. Of particular solace to them was a 5-1 semifinals routing of Germany that redeemed their defeat at Munich. Pakistan now faced India in the final. Islah had sustained a thigh injury through a defender’s studs during a pool match against Malaysia and in the final Samiullah was tackled roughly by the Indian right half and the resulting fall broke his collarbone. Hampered by these injuries to their two remarkable wingers Pakistan lost 1-0, following a disputed goal.

Rasheed Jr. was back leading the side in the 1976 Montreal Games where Pakistan came third. In the bronze medal match Islah was hit flush on the knee by a powerful penalty corner strike from the renowned Paul Litjens, causing a dislocated knee cap that put him out of action for a few months. Near the year’s end the Quaid-e-Azam Centenary Tournament was organized in Lahore to mark the hundredth birth anniversary of the founder of the nation. Eight countries participated with Pakistan, led by Islah, remaining unbeaten throughout the tournament, beating Egypt, Malaysia, Poland, India, West Germany and Holland on route to victory. The match against Malaysia has special memories for Islah, it was his hundredth match for Pakistan and during it he also scored his hundredth international goal.

The year 1978 had a busy schedule for Pakistan hockey. The first major event was the 4th World Cup, held in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Led by Islahuddin, Pakistan were in scintillating form, overcoming opponents with great ease and finesse. The World Cup of football was being hosted by Argentina later in the year. Pakistan’s style of play and the brilliance of its forward line had impressed Cesar Menotti, the Argentinian football team manager, who specially visited the Pakistani team training session to gather tips on how to break down packed defences. These were deployed by the Argentinian football team, which eventually won the World Cup.

After winning all their pool matches Pakistan met West Germany in the semifinals. The match was goalless until the final two minutes of the second half of extra time when Manzoor Junior passed the ball to Islahuddin who dribbled through the defence, cutting in from the right flank to the left-in position. Once inside the D he feigned a body dodge to deceive the goalkeeper before scooping the ball over his head into an empty goal. This burst of pure hockey magic had gained Pakistan a place in the finals where Holland awaited them.

Islah played a major hand in the final as well. Holland led 2-1 midway through the second half when Islah scored off a scramble in the D to level the scores 2-2. Then came a moment of rare inspiration. Pakistan had won eight penalty corners, but Munnawaruz Zaman, their penalty corner expert, had failed to convert any. With just seven minutes of play left Pakistan were awarded their 9th short corner and Islah surprisingly turned to newcomer Ehsanullah to have a hit. The rest is history; Ehsanullah scored and Pakistan were crowned world champions.

During the World Cup, the FIH and Air Marshal Nur Khan announced the introduction of a new tournament called the Champions Trophy to be played between the world’s top six hockey teams. The inaugural event was staged in Lahore later that year. West Germany, Holland and India conveyed their inability to participate and were replaced by Great Britain and Spain. Five countries, therefore, competed in this event which was held on a round robin league basis. Islahuddin was retained as the captain of the Pakistan team which won the tournament by beating the Olympic champions New Zealand 6-2, Spain 3-1, Great Britain 4-1 and Australia 2-1. A second key trophy was now in Pakistan’s possession.

The third major hockey event in 1978 was the Asian Games in Bangkok which began a few weeks after the Champions Trophy. Led once more by Islahuddin, Pakistan swept aside their opponents in the group matches, to play Malaysia in the semifinals. Pakistan comfortably won 5-2, but Islah collided with the Malaysian left-half Mohinder Singh and broke his jaw.

The final was a familiar face-off against India and Islahuddin played the full seventy minutes despite his broken jaw, to lead his side to a 1-0 victory. Pakistan had retained the Asian Games title and were now worthy winners of three premier hockey events, namely the World Cup, the Champions Trophy and the Asian Games.

Islah retired from international hockey after the Asian Games. He played 130 matches for Pakistan, scoring 137 goals. In the 45 matches that he captained the national side they won 43 and drew the other two. Post retirement Islah served as the manager and coach of the national team and also performed duties as a commentator and member of the FIH rules board.

In full flight Islah was a sight to behold. Weaving his way through opposing defences at an exhilarating pace, with the ball magnetically tethered to his stick, he could send the pulses racing. In defending penalty corners, too, he was superlative, repeatedly frustrating specialist strikers and risking injury with his brave dashes from the goal line, a true all rounder of rare, spellbinding merit.

– 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