Born on June 12, 1956 in Aligarh, the gifted left-winger shone on the Indian hockey horizon for a decade since making senior international debut in 1977. Highly qualified -- he was civil engineer by profession -- he played for the Indian Airlines for about two decades in the domestic circuit. He won the gold at Moscow Olympics and then was part of the 1984 Olympics team too. He led India at the 1982 Asian Games (Silver). Post playing career, the double Olympian had a stint as national chief coach in the early 90s. Under his coaching, India made its first and historic South Africa tour in 1993. He is a well sought after hockey legend in the media, as he is eloquent, scholarly and straight forward in expression. Zafar Iqbal lives in Ghaziabad after retirement from the Indian Airlines as Executive Director (Civil Engineering), also was secretary of Airlines Sports Board. He was honoured with Arjuna in 1983 and Pardamshree in 2012.