Shakeel Abbasi (b: 5 January 1984,

Quetta Quetta (; ur, ; ; ps, کوټه‎) is the tenth most populous city in Pakistan with a population of over 1.1 million. It is situated in south-west of the country close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is the capital of the ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

) is a former international

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shootin ...

player from

. He played as a forward mainly as an

inside right Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

or center forward. A skillful forward Abbasi was regarded as one of the finest players for Pakistan in his career making over 300 appearances. He also played for various club sides around the world reputed as a world class player of his era.

Early life

Abbasi was born in

on 5 January 1984. A good sportsman Abbasi played various sports during his school and college days, influenced by his peers specially his elder brother who recommended him to continue in hockey seeing his promising prospect in it. Abbasi then started giving hockey his full-time attention joining hockey academies in his hometown.

Career

2006

He was part of the team which won the silver medal at the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006 ( Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm 2006'' or ''Naarm 2006''), was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth held ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

, Australia and the bronze medal at the

2006 Asian Games 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the c ...

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...

2008

Abbasi was part of the squad which placed 8th at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

2010

Abbasi was awarded a Category A central contract for the year. He toured Europe as part of the national team's preparations for the Commonwealth Games in September. He was part of the sixth place team at the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, f ...

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the NCT Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati B ...

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

. In the first match, he scored Pakistan's opening goal in the 3–0 victory over

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

. In November 2010, Abbasi was part of the team at the

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until th ...

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong ...

, China.

2011

Abbasi was part of the Pakistani team that won the silver medal at 2011 Asian Men's Hockey Champions Trophy, Ordos, China.

2012

Abbasi was likely to be picked for the upcoming 2012 Summer Olympics according to Pakistan Hockey Federation secretary

Asif Bajwa Asif Muhammad Bajwa OLY ( ur, ) (born 8 March 1969) is a former field hockey player who played for Pakistan from 1992 to 1996. He later became the team's manager and chief coach. As of 2022, he is the secretary general of Pakistan ...

's reported statement to the news media.Olympian Shakeel Abbasi asked to rejoin training camp
The Express Tribune newspaper, Published 26 July 2013, Retrieved 18 July 2021

References