Waseem Ahmad

Waseem Ahmad

Personal information
Full name	Waseem Ahmad
Born	April 10, 1977
Playing position	Left Half, Center Half
Club information
Current club	Waseem Hockey Club, WAPDA
Senior career
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1996–2002	Habib Bank	400+	(40)
2002-present	WAPDA
2004-2010	Hockey Club Rotterdam(Netherlands)
2005 season	Hyderabad Sultans(Premier Hockey League)
National team
1996–present	Pakistan	410	(37)

Medal record
Men's Field Hockey
Competitor for Pakistan
Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, Asian Games
Gold	1999, 2000, 2003, 2010 Guangzhou	Team

Waseem Ahmad (Urdu: وسیم احمد) (born 10 April 1977, Vehari) is a Pakistan field hockey player and ex- captain of Pakistan hockey team. He is regarded as one of the best left halfs in the world, and became the most capped midfielder and most capped player for Pakistan. After announcing his retirement from International hockey during Press Conference held after Pakistan-India third-place match of 26th Champions Trophy in Lahore, former Pakistan captain Waseem Ahmed later staged a comeback to international hockey in 2006 for World Cup and he is still playing in the National side up to now.

Career

Pakistan's most-capped player and midfielder became the 34th National hockey Captain of Pakistan when Pakistan clashed with India in the opener of 9th Indo-Pak Series (Friday 24 September) at Karachi's HCP. He was the 17th captain to lead Pakistan in Champions Trophy. Apart from Shahbaz Ahmed, who captained Pakistan 6 times (1990–95) in Champion Trophys, only three players have captained Pakistan on two occasions. They are Hanif Khan (1983, 1985), Mansoor Ahmed (1996, 97) and Muhammad Sarwar (2001–02). Islahuddin, Munawwaruz Zaman, Akhtar Rasool, Samiullah Khan, Manzoor Hussain Jr., Hassan Sardar, Rashidul Hassan, Nasir Ali, Qazi Mohib, Muhammad Usman, Atif Bashir and Muhammad Nadeem ND captained once only.

The left-half is first in the list of most-capped Pakistanis. Shahbaz Ahmed Sr. (303 caps) is the second one. Third-placed Tahir Zaman earned 252 caps in a career spanning from 1987 to 1998. Other Pakistanis with 200+ caps in international hockey circuit are Mansoor Ahmed, Muhammad Usman, Muhammad Nadeem and Sohail Abbas.

Waseem Ahmed was the seventh midfielder to lead Pakistan. Hamidullah Burki was the first one when he led Pakistan in 1950 World Championship at Barcelona. Burki was followed by midfielders Ghulam Rasool, Anwar Ahmed Khan, Akhtar Rasool, Rashidul Hassan and Muhammad Usman.

He replaced former skipper Mohammad Nadeem alias ND, who quit international hockey after Pakistan finished 5th at the 28th Olympic Games.

Playing Position (Left Half, Center Half)

The position of left-half is generally regarded as a defensive one in Asian style hockey but, like Fazalur Rahman (1965–72) and Naeem Akhtar (1982–88), Waseem proved this perception wrong. He is not only a dynamo in defence but also in attack. He displays an extremely high work-rate. Waseem, also known as Muhammad Waseem in media, struck 6 goals in 303 international outings. He is an ex-student of Government College Lahore now known as GC University (Ravian) which in itself is a rare distinction for a hockey player.

Skills

Born in Vehari,located near Multan, a district of Punjab Province, on 10 April 1977, Waseem made his international debut during 16th Champions Trophy 1996 at Chennai (formerly Madras), India. He possesses excellent tackling and positioning sense in defense. Similarly, he has great ball-control to move up-front, creating gaps in the opponents' defense and supplying passes to the strikers.

Achievements

Waseem played his 200th international hockey match on 24 September 2003 when Pakistan inflicted a 4-2 win over India in the Group-B encounter of 6th Asia Cup Hockey Championship at National Hockey Stadium of Bukit Jalil Sports Complex at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Waseem also struck a precious goal in that match when he converted Pakistan's first penalty corner by beating Indian keeper Devesh Chauhan. He scored that crucial goal when the match was evenly poised at 2-2.

Being captain of Pakistan Hockey team for the 1st time, team won the 9th Indo-Pak Test Hockey Series and returned to Pakistan with a victory under his captaincy.

Waseem won silver medals in Champions Trophy at Chennai 1996 and Lahore 1998 besides bronze medals in 2002,2003 and 2004 editions. He also appeared in CTs of 1997, 1999, 2001 and 2010. Waseem also represented Pakistan in Olympics of 2000 and 2004, World Cup in 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2010 along with Junior World Cup 1997. He has also won silver medal in 5th and 6th Asia Cup at Kuala Lumpur 1999 and 2003 respectively, and bronze medal in 13th Asian Games at Bangkok 1998. Pakistani team won Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 3 times and Waseem Ahmad was in the side every time. He is the only player who is never dropped from the National side due to his performance.

Along with Sohail Abbas, he was the only Pakistani to be included in the World XI which played against the Netherlands in Alexandria on 27 October 1999, as part of FIH's 75th Anniversary Celebrations. Waseem used to play for current national champions of Pakistan, WAPDA and he was the vice-captain of Pakistani team that won the third Junior Asia Cup at Singapore 1996. He also won the gold medal in FIH World Youth U18 Festival at Rawalpindi/Wah 1995-96.

He captained Pakistani team in two events before he announced his retirement. First was India-Pak Hockey Test Series 2004 which Pakistan won easily. Second was Champions Trophy in December at Lahore in which Pakistani team got bronze medal under his captaincy.

He is the 2nd Pakistani Player to play the 4th consecutive World Cup in 2010. But the consistency in the team made him the most-capped player of the nation in history.

Premier Hockey League

Waseem only played the inaugural season of the Premier Hockey League in India for Hyderabad Sultans in 2005 where he performed at his best and played a key role in making his side Champions. After that he went to Netherlands to play Dutch league for HC Rotterdam.

Retirement

He became Pakistan's second most-capped player when he earned his 253rd cap on 4 December 2004 in a match against Germany and he became Pakistan's most-capped (304) 12 December 2004 in his last match before retirement against India which was for Bronze medal and Pakistan won it. He was declared man of the match in this match. He also became the most-capped midfielder of Pakistan's hockey history by edging out Muhammad Usman's record of 210 caps. Former national skipper Usman played as a right-half from 1994 to 2002. He came back in the side for playing Champion's Trophy and World Cup in 2006 for Pakistan Hockey Team after taking his retirement back. Now he is currently playing the center-half of the Pakistan National team.

Comeback

Ahmad made his comeback in 2009 to play for Pakistan as PHF called him back for his consistent performance in the Dutch League and National Championship. He was part of the gold medal winning team at the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China Now currently he is with the National side till London 2012 Olympics.

World Series Hockey

World Series Hockey is a competition by Nimbus Sports for the game of Hockey in India. Ahmad was signed by them as the highest paid player for the inaugural season which is going to be held from 29th February, 2012. Waseem will be representing Bhopal Badshahs for the first time which is the home team of Madhya Pardesh state in India.

See also

• Pakistan Hockey Federation

External links

• Pakistani Top Hockey Group
• Inverview with Waseem Ahmad by Abdul Hayi Mansoor
• Times of Hockey
• Pakistan Hockey Website