Death Anniversary Of Greatest Full Back Of Pak Hockey

LAHORE,(APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 27th july,2016) : July 28th marks the 22nd death anniversary of Pakistan's former hockey captain Munawwar uz Zaman, one of the most outstanding player the pakistan has ever produced.

Regarded by experts of the game as the finest left full back to play for Pakistan, he played for the national team from 1971-80. He shot into prominence in the very first international outing.

In the inaugural World Cup in 1971, during the semi-final against arch rivals India, world's most feared penalty corner expert Tanvir Dar got injured with the score at 1-1. Munawwar was called to take the penalty corner.

It was his first international strike on penalty corner and instantly became a national hero, scoring the match winning goal. Interestingly, he had a knack of scoring goals against India in vital games: finals of both the 1974 (Pakistan won 2-0) as well as the 1978 Asian Games (Pakistan won 1-0).

He was Pakistan's victorious captain at the 1980 Champions Trophy when they steamrolled all the opposition. Both India and Australia were defeated by the record margins of 7-1. His medal cabinet shows two World Cup golds and one silver, Olympic silver and a bronze, two Asian Games golds and two Champions Trophy golds. Munawwar died with his boots on.

On 28 July, 1994, while having a rest at what is now Edhi hockey stadium, during a training session with the Pakistan veterans’ team for the Veterans’ World Cup, he suffered a cardiac arrest and couldn’t survive.