Exclusive: Shahid could show his wizardry on any turf, says Zafar Iqbal

The Zafar Iqbal-Mohammed Shahid combination was a match made in heaven which used to strike terror in the heart of rival defence of hockey teams back in the Eighties. While Shahid had passed away nine years back due to a kidney ailment, Zafar saab still cherishes the golden phase they enjoyed together – while Indian hockey was the beneficiary.  

While Hockey India and the Union sports ministry joined hands to usher in nationwide celebrations for 100 years of Indian hockey on Friday, it was time for Zafar to get nostalgic. ‘’We played together in national colours for about six or seven years. He was simply extraordinary – while he may not have been a great scorer, he used it set it up for others to score. In the 1980 Moscow Olympics final, he shattered Spain and we were up 3-0 at half-time,’’ recalled the 69-year-old former India captain.

Moscow 1980 was the last Olympics gold for India, where Zafar played under the captaincy of K. Bhaskaran while two years later, he led India to a silver finish in the 1982 Asian Games in Delhi. He was also a part of the silver medallist team in ’78 Asian Games and a bronze medallist at the ’82 Champions Trophy. This apart, the fleet-footed winger had won many other tournaments in Pakistan, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, West Germany and other European nations.

Speaking to National Herald over phone, Zafar said that it often seemed that the turf – be it grass or astro turf which was only introduced in India from 1982 – made no difference to Shahid’s wizardy. ‘’He would always find a way to wrongfoot the rival defence with his dribbling,’’ he said. If Moscow was the high point of his career, Zafar’s biggest regret was that despite having a more balanced team four years later in Los Angeles 1984, they had to be content by finishing fifth after beating Netherlands 5-2 in play-offs.

 The wait for the next podium finish in hockey, a sport which had been India’s calling card with eight Olympic gold medals (13 in all with a silver and four bronze), was a four-decade one when Manpreet Singh’s men claimed a bronze in Tokyo 2020. ‘’Personally speaking, I was very happy to see that their bronze after such a long wait was like worth it’s weight in gold – both in Tokyo and Paris. Our times were no different when on coming back from Moscow, the team members were given an Atlas cycle each and a brief case,’’ Zafar said with a hearty laugh.

Reflecting on the bigger picture about India’s hockey journey for a century, the Padmashri awardee lauded the game’s officialdom for showing the foresight and acumen to take the game forward.  ‘’See, most people know about Major Dhyan Chand and our extraordinary achievements in the sport but sometimes, the role of the administration is not appreciated enough. The Indian Hockey Association (IHA), founded in Gwalior in 1925 with Pankaj Gupta at the helm, was the first national body outside Europe to be recognised by the FIH and this opened the door for us to enter the 1928 Games,’’ said Zafar, who had worn many a hat like that of chief national coach and selector.

The affable legend offered an unique perspective about a podium finish being often a case of so-year-yet-so-far for India’s hockey teams. ‘’Sometimes, people don’t appreciate the effort that goes behind finishing with a bronze or ending in fourth or fifth positions. Who wants to lose a medal match but one side has to – and that’s what defines the nature of sport.

''For example, we have won one World Cup in 1975 but in the ’73 final, we took a 2-0 lead only to blow it. Then we missed a penalty stroke in sudden death which would have ended the match thre itself. History will only show a bronze in ’71 World Cup, then a silver and finally gold,’’ he recounted.

Does he regret that the much hyped India-Pakistan rivalry in hockey, a la cricket, has become a thing of the past now? ‘’It’s not exactly my domain to comment but I will possibly blame it on their administration. In India, all our national teams are engaged throughout the year and Hockey India have a system in place. Odisha has done a lot for hockey while Sports Authority of India (SAI) had also been rather proactive,’’ he said.

Looking beyond the current generation of Harmanpreet Singh & Co, Zafar Iqbal felt the upcoming Junior Men’s World Cup from month-end in Chennai and Madurai will give an opportunity to take a peek at the new talent. “We have to show the world that we have a lot of players who can become champions in the future. We won the 2016 Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup and now I hope we play well and finish on the podium in the 2025 edition.”