LAHORE, March 30: Former ‘Rustam-i-Pakistan’ Abdul Majeed Maroowala (43) was laid to rest at a local graveyard on Thursday. Maroowala died in Lahore late Wednesday due to kidney failure.

He has left behind two wives, six daughters and one son.

Maroowala was born in Lahore in 1963 and was employed by Wapda when he won a gold medal in the national championship in early 80s.

Later, he became an international wrestler.

His first major achievement came in 1983 when he won two silver and one bronze in freestyle and Greco-Roman at the 3rd Asian Wrestling Championship in Tehran.

A year later, Maroowala won his third silver medal in the 22nd Bahman International Championship held in Tehran. Maroowala claimed his first gold medal in the International Wrestling Championship held in Baghdad, Iraq in March 1984 and in the following year he also won another gold in Quaid-i-Azam International Wrestling Championship in Lahore in 1985.

He was the first wrestler to win a gold medal for Pakistan in the 1986 Asian Games at Seoul.

At the regional level, he won five gold consecutively in the SAF Games in 1985, 1987, 1989, 1993 and 1995. In 1987, he was awarded the Pride of Performance.