Air Marshal ® Nur Khan who passed away in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, a few months back, was a sports administrator par excellence. Hockey was his first love.
Nur Khan had two tenures as the president of the PHF (Pakistan Hockey Federation):1966-69 and 1977-84. He achieved a perfect record– winning each and every title tournament. When he first took the charge in late 1966, Pakistan had lost both the Olympics and the Asian Games gold, the only two titles of that era. As the 1968 Olympics were to be staged at the high altitude of Mexico, Pakistan’s training camp was held at Lower Topa near Murree. Nur Khan, who was also the chief of PAF (Pakistan Air Force), used to fly every other day from the PAF HQ in Risalpur to Lower Topa. Pakistan team with many new faces surprised everyone at Mexico, winning all the nine matches to return home with the gold medal. A visionary, he immediately raised a second string. Very next year, in 1969, PHF staged an international tournament in Lahore featuring almost all the major hockey nations. The hosts entered two sides. The final was played between Pakistan’s senior and junior teams.
Pakistan hockey’s achievements during Nur Khan’s second tenure are unbelievable: Two World Cup victories (1978 & 1982) and an Olympic gold (1984). Pakistan boycotted the 1980 Olympics (when they were the overwhelming favourites) in Moscow over the then Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. The green shirts also won all the continental events during the period i.e. the Asian games of 1978 and 1982 plus the inaugural Asia Cup in 1982.
Nur Khan regarded the national players a real treasure and always cared for their welfare. In his capacity as the chairman of PIA (Pakistan International Airlines), he arranged jobs for hockey players in the airline in the officers’ cadre. Little wonder, PIA’s hockey team has dominated the domestic scene winning the national title more than any other team. Several other departments followed the lead and raised their hockey teams along similar lines. He always believed in meritocracy and never budged to any pressure, common in his part of the world, in selection of the players and the officials. However, he made no compromises on discipline and never tolerated any player power.
In its initial days, the astro turf was a great luxury for the third world countries. Nur Khan prevailed upon the government of Pakistan, and the country had its first synthetic turf in Karachi. He was the chief guest in the official ceremony to mark the completion of installation of the astro turf. When the officials asked him to cut the ribbon, Nur Khan said, “It is the national players who deserve the honour more than anyone else.” And he invited Munawwar uz Zaman, the captain of the Pakistan team, to come forward and cut the ribbon. World’s biggest hockey stadium- the national hockey stadium in Lahore- was also started during his tenure. His services to hockey go beyond Pakistan. In fact, he is universally acknowledged as one of the greatest benefactors of world hockey. It was Nur Khan who gave the world of hockey, two of the most important tournaments- World Cup and Champions Trophy.
On the sidelines of the 1968 Olympics, there were rumours about some team disciplines being dropped from the future editions. Nur Khan proposed to FIH that in order to have its place among the elite sports, hockey should have a World Cup tournament as in soccer. The FIH hierarchy was very reluctant to the idea, “Ours is an amateur sport. The FIH and the national federations don’t have the resources for a regular World Cup.” The far sighted Nur Khan told them, “Once the idea of the World Cup comes to the fore, the interest of the national hockey bodies would put the FIH in a quandary to choose the host country.”
And Nur Khan was proved correct. The magnificent trophy for the hockey World Cup, one of the most beautiful for any sporting event, also came from Pakistan.
Then in 1978, during the Buenos Aires World Cup, the great visionary came out with the idea of an annual tournament, the Champions Trophy, for the top six national teams. “In such an event, every single match would be competitive and thrilling. That would help raise the standards of the game.” Again there were apprehensions. Representatives of national federations expressed their reservations, “With our meager resources, it would be extremely difficult to bear the expenses of travel, boarding and lodging of the national team every year for such an event.”
Nur Khan agreed. At the same time he made a very generous offer, “Pakistan would host and also pay for the air travel of all the teams. The arrangement would continue until another country stepped in. Whenever FIH found it difficult to have another host, Pakistan would come forward to hold the event.” The sanction of the Champions Trophy by the FIH Council was unanimous whereas this had not been the case with the World Cup.
Again, the trophy came from Pakistan.
The futurist Nur Khan knew it was a matter of time when other federations would be seeking to hold the event. The first three editions of the Champions Trophy were indeed held in Pakistan. Then, as envisaged by Nur Khan, other countries became interested to have the prestigious event in their own backyard.
The world of hockey in general and Pakistan in particular would always be grateful to Nur Khan. Very few in the history of sports made such an indelible impression as he did.
