KARACHI, Oct 27: Veteran sports journalist, Ali Kabir died here at the Aga Khan Hospital on Thursday after prolonged illness. He was 73.

Commencing his journalistic career in the fifties, he joined daily Dawn in 1963 and remained associated with the newspaper till his retirement in 1993.

With his tremendous understanding of the finer points of almost all disciplines in sports, Ali Kabir earned fame as a correspondent of great merit during the early days of his career.

In years that followed, he stood out with his enthusiastic, in-depth reporting of major events at home and abroad, especially in hockey, which included the World Cups in Buenos Aires (1978), Bombay (1982) and Lahore (1990) besides several editions of Champion Trophy and Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia.

Honest and straight forward in his dealings with both colleagues and friends, he was elected as president of Pakistan Sports Writers Federation during the 1980s and held the office till his death.

What added considerably to his reporting talent was his fearless comment and analysis that would allow the readers to look at the game and the players with a freshness that may be lacking in reports of most sports scribes today.

Former Olympian and hockey captain, Islahuddin, while condoling Ali Kabir’s death, lauded his services as sports journalist of rare calibre. “He was an honest, competent correspondent who always gave players their due in his reports as well as pointing out their weaknesses wherever required,” said Islah. “He will be sorely missed by the readers and players alike because some of us have had a 30-year-long association with him.”

Another hockey stalwart, former captain Hanif Khan, termed Ali Kabir’s death a great loss for sports journalism. “One can hardly find a sports journalist of his calibre. He was an institution in hockey coverage. It was his reports during the 1978 and 1980 in Dawn and Star that compelled Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) officials to select players who really deserved a place in the team,” the former coach said.

Hanif, who came into prominence after Ali Kabir’s coverage of him as a teenaged hockey wizard, was all praise for the veteran scribe, saying he always remained objective in his approach.

“Mr Kabir had unquestionable credibility and he never wrote anything which was against the ethics of journalism. Reporters like him are hard to come by.”

Equally adept at covering cricket, horseracing and table tennis, Ali Kabir proved his few critics wrong by also excelling outside the sphere of sports in the mid ‘90s, filing a number of exclusive reports for Dawn’s city pages as a freelance journalist. “He will long be remembered as an intelligent, affectionate man with a lively way of working and whose advice carried a lot of weight for reporters and even the players,” said Salahuddin ‘Sallu’, a former Test cricketer and chief selector.

Ali Kabir is survived by his widow, a son and a daughter. His funeral will be held on Saturday after Zohar prayers at the Masjid Baitul Mukarram, University Road, Gulshan-e-Iqbal followed by burial at the graveyard near the Milk Plant.