LAHORE: The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) organised a condolence reference in memory of late Olympian Naveed Alam who passed away earlier this week after a long battle with cancer.

Former Olympians Chaudhry Akhtar Rasool, Manzoor Junior, Khawaja Juniad, Asif Bajwa, Danish Kaleem, former international goalkeeper Qadeer Bashir, national junior team coach Rana Zaheer and the entire probables of the national junior squad attended the reference.

Akhtar Rasool hailed the services of Naveed as a fine full-back of the national team which won the gold medal in the 1994 World Cup.

Akhtar urged the PHF to also hold similar references for other Olympians and officials, especially for former president Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) Zafarullah Khan Jamali.

Secretary PHF Asif Bajwa also recalled times when Naveed was his roommate and remembered him as a dear friend. He said the sudden death of Naveed Alam has created a big gap and was really shocking.

Naveed breathed his last at Shaukat Khanum Hospital after first chemotherapy on Monday. He was 48.

Published in Dawn, July 17th, 2021