Obituary: Munir Dar, A life devoted to Sports

Very few people live such a full, diverse and successful life as did Pakistani hockey legend Munir Dar who passed away on the first of June. Born in 1936 in Amritsar, the young Munir moved to Lahore in 1947. At his new home, he found a hockey stick and the life-long love affair started. His precocious talent meant he was a member of the school team at a very early age. The talent scouts picked him up for the hockey team of the famous Government College, Lahore where his sporting career really took off.

Such was his determination that in his early teens Munir had expressed his firm desire to make it into the Pakistan national side for the 1956 Olympics. Blessed with a very athletic and strong physique, Munir displayed all the attributes of a solid defender at the right full-back position.
In addition, he was a wonderful striker of the penalty corners. All these made him soon appear on the radar of the national selectors and true to his word, Munir earned a spot for the 1956 Olympics.

At those Melbourne Games, Pakistan won their first ever Olympic medal in any discipline — a silver. Young Munir’s display in the final was memorable.
There was no looking back. Munir created sensation at the 1958 Asian Games. Against Korea, who had made headlines by restricting India, the undisputed kings of hockey at that time to a 2-1 victory, Munir successfully converted as many as five successive penalty corners — a feat never done in international hockey before and only equalled once since then. In fact, Munir’s goals against Korea made all the difference.

The hockey tournament of 1958 Asiad was played only as a single league. The Pakistan-India match ended scoreless and the two sides had equal points. Pakistan won gold on goal difference mainly due to their big victory against the Koreans.

Two years later, Munir again figured in Pakistan’s first ever gold medal victory at the 1960 Olympics ending India’s 32 year hegemony. He remained Pakistan’s first choice until his retirement after the 1966 Asian Games when he had the honour of captaining the national side. In three Olympic appearances, he garnered a Ggold and twoSsilvers. In as many appearances at the Asian Games, Munir’s medal cabinet had two Gold and one silver.

Before his exit from the international scene, he had already groomed his younger brother Tanvir Dar to be his successor. Tanvir, also a right fullback, was a member of the 1968 Olympic gold medal winning team. He also reigned supreme at the inaugural World Cup in 1971 where he was tournament’s top scorer with eight goals for the victorious Pakistan side.

The Dar success story continued and Munir’s eldest son Taqueer completed the unique family treble when he figured in the Pakistan team which won the country’s third Olympic gold medal in 1984. His second son Taseer was a stand by for those Olympics. It was only dirty politics that Taseer couldn’t don the senior national shirt. The experts rated his penalty corner strike more powerful and accurate than any of the other Dars. All these disheartened the youngest son Tafseer, who had been showing great promise, to the extent that he decided to say good bye to hockey and turned to cricket. Tafseer played first-class cricket for quite sometime.
Munir also coached Pakistan’s senior and junior national sides in 70s and 80s.

A police officer by profession, Munir was a great patron of sports. On becoming in charge of the police sports department, he inducted many talented sportsmen of various disciplines into the police force who brought laurels not only for their department but for the nation as well. Pakistan’s last athletics gold at the Asian Games came through a police man Ghulam Abbas. Pakistan emerged as a major Asian volley ball power in the late 80s and early 90s with a number of police players making a major contribution.

Under Munir’s stewardship, police won the national hockey championships in 1993 after a gap of more than 30 years. That police team provided five players, more than any other domestic side, to the Pakistan team that won the World Cup and the Champions Trophy in 1994 — the nation’s last glory at the global hockey stage.

In addition, Munir was also the founder president of the Pakistan Karate Federation and remained on the executive committee of the Pakistan Rugby Union.

Horse-racing was another life long passion for Munir and he had a great eye for horses. He owned a number of horses who often won major races at the Lahore Race Club. He also served as the president of All Pakistan Jockey Club.

Munir had an excellent knowledge about most of the sports and was a wonderful narrator as well. The scribe had a number of sittings with him and Mr Dar would come out with interesting as well as informative sports stories all the time.

Hockey remained his real love till his last breath. Munir was the chief patron of ‘Tanvir Dar Hockey Academy’. The academy, within five years of its inception has come to be acknowledged as the best breeding ground for the young talent in this country.

Pakistan sports in general and the world of hockey in particular would definitely be poorer without Munir Dar.

Ijaz Chaudhry writes on hockey and other sports.
For more about him and his work, visit www.sportscorrespondent.info