I Have Been Very Lucky In My Career – Shahbaz Ahmed

There are few in this world who know just how the mind of a professional athlete works. Sports associations throughout the world struggle to find quality people, who know just what makes athletes tick. What better idea, then, than to bring exathletes into the fold?

Having played the sport themselves, and endured the hardship, trials and tribulations sportspersons face both on and off the pitch, they are the best when it comes to harnessing and unleashing the full potential of the nation they serve.

There are few finer examples of this practice than Shahbaz Ahmed. Widely hailed as the Maradona of Hockey, Ahmed cap- tained the Pakistan national team that won the 1994 Hockey World Cup, having also represented his country at the 1990 edition four years earlier.

He is currently serving as the General Secretary of the Pakistan Hockey Federation, having been appointed to the post in 2015, and recently visited Oman as part of a team that had travelled to the Sultanate on a goodwill visit organised by the Embassy of Pakistan in Oman.

was able to get an exclusive interview with the legend, and we’re glad we did – he did not disappoint. Ahmed was able to provide his expertise on a range of topics surrounding not just hockey, but sports, all around the world. He also lifted the lid on what contributed to his country’s successes at the 1994 World Cup, which was held in Australia.

“When I was growing up, maybe it is wrong for me to say this so openly, I played hockey because I had a passion for the sport,” recalled Ahmed.

“In fact, I would say that all of my brothers in the national team also had this spirit and that is why we did so well in the World Cup. No one gave us a chance of winning, because we were said to be an unpredictable team, but because we were all united in the desire to do our country and our people proud, that was what gave us the desire to do well.