Akhtar Rasool is the best Center Half Pakistan hockey has so far. He was a great pivot and played important rule in Pakistan victories in 1978 and 1982 Hockey World Cups.
This Pride of performance award winner in the year 1983 has a fierce spirit when it comes to hockey. In a game of hockey there are three main players distributions; forward, defense and centre. Akhtar Rasool was one of the creative geniuses when it came to centre half recovery and ball distribution.
This player had a technique and a knack of passing the ball to the right player at the right time. He was not very lucky to have a wing mate of his caliber. The initial part of his career was like a whirlpool. He had his share of ups and downs. Only towards the end of his career did he make a mark for himself.
After his retirement from professional hockey he was elected as the chief of Pakistan’s hockey supreme body the PHF. This was to be only for a term of one year. He took over at a time when the PHF was bankrupt and had just gotten out of the 1996 players revolt just before the world cup. He worked with all his heart and his hard work paid off and he was elected for another term as the chief. He was supposed to continue till the year 2002.
Various reasons are coated for his sudden resignation in the year 1999. He claimed that he was resigning due to his personal reasons and problems. He took up being the chief with all his attention focused on only one cause and that was to promote hockey. He took his cause very seriously and worked with his heart, soul and complete honesty and dedication. When he felt he could not help PHF he resigned from his post. A small example of his achievement as a chief is- when he took over PHF was bankrupt and when he left PHF had Rs. 15 million.
He then served as the chairman of the selection committee in the year 2002 and that time too his focus was the development of Pakistani hockey. He ensured that the players were helped in each possible way to maintain their consistency. He is still an active member of Pakistani hockey. He is either coaching or training young lads in Pakistan with the same motto and that is- promotion of Pakistan hockey.
Hassan Sardar | Akhtar Rasool | Shahbaz Ahmad | Sohail Abbas | Islahudin | Samiullah | Waseem Ahmad | Dihan Chand
Tahir Zaman | Kamran Ashraf | Rehan Butt | Manzorul Hassan | Munawar uz Zaman | Asif Bajwah | Saman Rashid |