There was a time when Pakistani athletes blazed the tracks at international meets and brought untold laurels to the country... I first saw Abdul Khaliq, the star athlete of Pakistan and his other legendary colleagues, practising in that stadium. Our college team had gone there to participate in the District Athletics meet. We were amazed to see him run so fast. His, had been a meteoric rise to fame, after he had broken the 100 metres record at New Delhi where he had represented Pakistan. I vividly recall the headline of The Pakistan Times, the next morning: ‘Abdul Khaliq proves a dark horse’, it read. He had clocked a time of 10.4, which was 0.2 of a second better than the Asian record. The world record (10.1) was then held by a US sprinter; it was 10.3 when the modern Olympics began in 1896. Khaliq repeated this performance on many subsequent occasions, but could not improve upon it. Khaliq, relatively short statured, as compared to his other colleagues was a modest man, with a friendly demeanour. I never saw him boast of his achievements. Before joining the army he was said to have been a good ‘kabaddi’ player, a sport which requires great speed and agility. In that era, 100 metre runners also competed in the 200 metres. At the 1954 Asian Games, held in Manila, Sharif Butt won the gold medal for Pakistan, in the 200 metres race. Later, Abdul Khaliq took up this event and proved his mettle, despite stiff competition. Perhaps not many people today know that he had clocked the fastest time of the heats (21.1) in this event, and reached the semi-finals of the Melbourne Olympics in Australia, in 1956, a commendable feat by an Asian runner in those days. An event that stimulated a lot of public interest, a little later, was a contest, between Milkha Singh, an Indian athlete, and Abdul Khaliq. Milkha Singh had beaten Abdul Khaliq, in their first encounter, in the 200 metres race. Sometime thereafter, they met again in Lahore. Thousands of spectators had thronged the stadium to witness the thrilling race, but Abdul Khaliq (21.4) lost to Milkha Singh (21.3), against their expectations. It was nonetheless, a neck and neck race, watched by an enthusiastic and wildly cheering crowd. The next day in the same meet, Khaliq avenged his defeat by beating Milkha Singh in the 100 metre dash. What impressed many was the devotion with which Abdul Khaliq and the other army athletes practised in those days. Brig. Rodham, a tall and strapping British supervised their training. He was invariably present in the stadium, to oversee and ensure that everyone strictly adhered to his daily regime of exercise and practice. A sports enthusiast with boundless energy and a gentle sense of humour, he was loved and admired by, ‘his boys’, as he endearingly called them. I have no doubt, that we owe much of our success in that golden era of our athletics, to his thoughtful planning, dedication, guidance and untiring efforts. “Why don’t our boys excel in athletics now?” I asked Khaliq several years after he had given up running. “Because they don’t work hard enough and lack the enthusiasm and necessary zest,” he explained, “that is necessary to reach international standards,” adding ruefully that athletics is not given the importance, it once was. By Ijaz Ilahi Malik
Posted on: Tue, 17 Sep 2013 09:11:57 +0000
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