Before telling about Subidar Abdul Khaliq of Chakwal, it is important to know that the fastest in the world today Athlete who is
Jamaica’s Usain Bolt is considered the fastest athlete in the world, having won eight gold medals in the 100, 200 and 4×100 meters at the Olympics, setting a world record.
His world record in the 100m race, which still stands today, was set by him in 2009 in 9.58 seconds.
70 years ago today, Subedar Abdul Khaliq of Pakistan completed the 100m race in 10.6 seconds in the 1954 Asian Games, breaking Levi Panto’s record of 10.8 seconds in the 1951 Asian Games, making him the fastest man in Asia. Address received.
Think back then, the facilities and training that are available to today’s athletes were not available.
Just looking at the quality of the shoes, there is a clear difference between the shoes available to the athlete then and the shoes of today.
Also keep in mind that the world record for the 100 meters at the time was 10.2 seconds, and the first time under 10 seconds was set in 1969.
Still Chakwal The athlete, who hails from the U.S., made such an astonishing history in the years to come that novels and movies could be written about it.
Kabaddi player turned athlete
Pothohar is called Martial Belt. Be it the First World War or the Second World War or subsequent wars in Pakistan and India, the descendants of Potohar have displayed incredible qualities of bravery everywhere.
Abdul Khaliq was also born in 1933 in Jund Awan, a small village in Chakwal.
His son Mohammad Ijaz is the head coach in DG Punjab Sports Board Rawal Pindi.
He told Independent Urdu that after the creation of Pakistan, a delegation from the sports department of the army went to Chakwal with the aim of watching the annual Kabaddi competitions held at Pir Falahi.
Among the five boys selected by the delegation was my father Abdul Khaliq, who inherited his passion for kabaddi from his uncle Abbas Ali, who was a well-known player in the area.
The Pakistan Army delegation gave him the fare to come to Attock, after which father reached Attock a few days later.
Due to the proper training and facilities here, his god-given talent started to ignite and he became the number one athlete of Pakistan in the next two to three years.
Played a lifetime with an injured knee
Abdul Khaliq’s knee was injured during training in the army. He was admitted to the hospital. The doctors decided that his knee would have to be amputated if this happened, then he would not be able to run for the rest of his life.
Muhammad Ejaz explains that the father did not want this, so he jumped out of the window of the hospital before the operation.
Due to some indigenous tips, the knee was saved from amputation, but most of them got swollen. He played with the same injured knee for the rest of his life.
If his knee had supported him, there would hardly have been anyone faster than him in the world.
Title of ‘Flying Bird of Asia’
In 1954, a sports match between Pakistan and India took place in Delhi. Among them, the most interesting match was between Pakistan’s Abdul Khaliq and India’s Makhan Singh and Levi Panto.
An advertisement was thrown in Abdul Khaliq’s room where the Pakistani athletes were staying before the competitions, which read that Abdul Khaliq Makhan Singh and Levi Panto are not even dusted.
Panto had won gold medals in the 100 and 200 meters races held in the first Asian Games held in Delhi in 1951, so this claim of the Indian spectators was not unreasonable.
But Abdul Khaliq did not like this payment. According to his son Muhammad Ijaz, he decided that he would crush the pride of India in the field of Delhi.
Although Dad was a 100m athlete, he defeated his opponents Makhan Singh and Panto in both the 100m and 200m events.
The Chief Guest of this event was the Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, who gave him the title of ‘Flying Bird of Asia’.
Sports Diplomacy, Milkha Singh and Abdul Khaliq
In 1960 during President Ayub’s tenure, sports competitions were held in Lahore between the two countries to normalize bilateral relations with India. Iranian players were also included in them.
Hundreds of athletes from the three countries participated in these competitions, but the competition that caught the eyes of the people of both the countries was between India’s Milkha Singh and Pakistan’s Abdul Khaliq.
Milkha Singh had won gold medals in the 400m race at the Asian and Commonwealth Games and Abdul Khaliq had also won gold medals in the 100m race twice at the Asian Games.
He won the first medal in Manila in 1954 and the second in Tokyo in 1958. When the competition started, Milkha won the 200m race by one second.
But the Pakistani team won the 100 x 400 meters race in which Abdul Khaliq defeated Milkha Singh in the last round.
In the same competitions, President Ayub gave Milkha the title of ‘Flying Sikh’.
Why Abdul Khaliq could not win the Olympics?
In 1956, when the Olympics were held in Melbourne, Australia, Abdul Khaliq reached the semi-finals and came seventh in the final results.
His son Ijaz says that since Pakistan was a new country, players and coaches were all going through their own experiences.
Abdul Khaliq did not lose because he lacked anything but because he could not decide in these world competitions when to give importance to which competition.
An Australian newspaper commented on him and wrote that if Abdul Khaliq had not participated in the 200 and 400 meter relay race, he would have been unbeatable in the 100 meter race.
Seeing his performance in the same Olympics, a club in Germany offered him a contract of 200,000 US dollars, but he refused saying that he is also an employee of Pakistan as well as the Pakistan Army, so only for money. Can’t play from side.
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The title of Europe’s invincible player
Just as there is county cricket in England today, there used to be athletics competitions in which top athletes from around the world participated.
Ejaz said that Abdul Khaliq also participated in the competitions held in England in 1957. In these competitions, it was said that the athlete who won the race 10 times in a row would be given the title of ‘Europe’s Invincible Athlete’.
‘My father won the race nine times in a row. The American athlete who was called the fastest man in the world also jumped in the competition for the tenth time.
“My father was told by fellow players that if you make excuses about your knee injury and don’t compete, our respect will be lost because his time was better than my father’s time.
‘But my father said that there will be competition. My father was sure that the ground here was better than in Pakistan, so he would make up the difference of a few seconds.
That’s what happened. In the competition, he defeated the number one athlete in the world and was given the title of ‘Europe’s Invincible Player’.
Abdul Khaliq’s role in the movie ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’
Ejaz said that Milkha Singh contacted him in 2009 and said that a film is being made on me in India in which the role of your father is also to be shown. Do you mind?
I gave permission. This movie was released in 2013 which is considered as one of the biggest movies of India which made more than one billion rupees. It was actually a tribute to a forgotten hero of the Indian nation.
When Ijaz was asked that anyone here had thought of such work on his father? So he said that ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’ brought Milkha Singh and his father Abdul Khaliq back to life once again.
A Pakistani film company wants to make a similar film on Abdul Khaliq. The script has been written. Shooting locations are being selected by visiting various locations including our village.
Indira Gandhi’s offer of release to Abdul Khaliq
Abdul Khaliq was made a prisoner of war on the Udhampur front during the 1971 war between Pakistan and India.
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When Indian Colonel Krishanlal learned that Abdul Khaliq, who had fought with Milkha Singh, was among the prisoners of war, he offered him all possible facilities, which Abdul Khaliq refused, saying that his wounded comrades should If treatment is done, this will be the greatest service.
On the request of Abdul Khaliq, Pakistani soldiers were given medical treatment facilities. When Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi came to know about this, she offered to release Abdul Khaliq.
Abdul Khaliq rejected the offer and said that he was a part of Pakistan Army and would accept release along with everyone and not alone.
What privileges did Abdul Khaliq get from the government?
Ejaz said that in 1958, President Ayub awarded him the Presidential Medal of Excellence. In the 70s, the government allotted two square plots of land to them, the story of which is very interesting.
Twice the government wrote letters to him offering land, but he did not respond. One day my grandmother asked, ‘Did you ask for this land yourself?’
My father replied, ‘No.’
Grandma said, ‘When the government is giving you without asking, take it, it will be useful for the children.’
So when the government’s letter came for the third time, they took that place. The land was given in Sindh, father came back after taking the land and said that the land was found but he had sold it because the place where the land was allotted was not safe for my children, so he killed his children. Put safety first and sold the land.
Ejaz said that after the death of his father in 1988, the Pakistan Army also gave his mother an eight-marla house in Rawalpindi.
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2024-08-24 13:15:09
