Danish Mujtaba: The babe is on the right path

Danish Mujtaba, the babe of the home team, is another of the talented star to emerge from the proven stable of Uttar Pradesh.

His rise to fame from humble background was made possible when he got selected for the Delhi’s Air India Academy.

As a small stature and shy boy, he was one of the candidates for SAI-Air India Hockey Academy’s annual selection trials held in April, 2005.

He was playing like a traditional left-inside of Uttar Pradesh mould, skillful and dashing , and no wonder he immediately stuck the selectors’ eye.

Born in December, 1988, Danish Mujtaba belongs to a well settled hockey family. Elder brother Hamza Mujtaba — an international player fro the same Air India Academy — and uncle Atif Idris, one of the finest skillful international players from his state, were the Danish’s inspirations. Atif formed the formidable forwardline of Indian Airlines in the early 90s.

Danish learned the basics of Hockey in Lucknow’s famous Sports College from 2001 to 2005 before joining capital’s jewel Air India Academy mid way through 2005. Air India Academy was the dream destination of many budding players, so was it in Danish’ case.

His induction into the Academy bore fruit soon, with him being part of the India Under-18 team for the 6-Nation competition in Singapore. When Air India Academy won the Junior National Championship three summers ago, Danish was the architect of it. Fittingly, he was declared ‘the Best Player of the tournament’.

His big time came in the same year. He toured Monchengladbach, where the last World Cup was staged, to play in the 8-Nation DKV Junior Trophy. After this great break, he did not look back.

He was a regular member and prominent scorer for many Junior India campaigns; gold winning Junior Asia Cup in 2008, Successful tour of Argentina in 2008, Silver medalist of the Australian Youth Festival in the early 2009, Silver Medalist of the Johor Bahru 4-Nation Cup (March 2009) and then the Junior World Cup in Singapore.

He performed consistently well in all these non-stop engagements. In between Danish also had the taste of indoor hockey as well – with the sprinkling of Seniors India won the Bronze at the inaugural Indoor Hockey Championship at Macau.

An Arts graduate from Capital’s Jamia Millia University, he was the choice of Spanish Coach Jose Brasa for the senior team camp in July 2009. This role came to him shortly after the Singapore Junior World Cup.

Currently playing as midfielder in senior team, Canada Test series last year – where he made his senior colours , he passed the confidence test of Brasa for Champions Challenge at Salta, Argentina, in late 2009.

Youngest son of a policeman in Uttar Pradesh, Gulam Muztaba, is thrilled to find himself among the team for the home World Cup team. His dreams have come true. Danish gives credit to his child hood coach late Mohammad Hafiz Sahab for the realization of his dream.

Danish is one of the five players in the team who grew up in the Dhyan Chand National Stadium, where the Air India Academy was located for about a decade.

Can there be a better opportunity for this youngster than this World Cup to keep the flag of his stadium flying high?

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