This is one match I will never forget in my life…

Event: Commonwealth Games 2006
Match: Pakistan vs South Africa
Result: 1-1
Venue: Melbourne, Australia

This is one match I will never forget in my life. We were playing South Africa in the league stage of the Commonwealth Games. That match was all important as it was to decide the semifinal line up of the tournament. But to our ill luck, we weren’t performing to our potential and our rivals went ahead, making it 1-0 and kept the lead entering the last 5 minutes to the final whistle. A loss would have meant that we were out of the semis, while even a draw would have given us a chance to finish on the podium.

Sitting on the bench for the whole match till then, I was itching to go onto the field and do the honours for my country. And it was then that our coach Asif Bajwa came to me and asked me to replace Shabeer as the left out. I was a bit tensed and worried as there was hardly any time left, but I took on to the field with a mission to level the score and earn a semi-final berth for my country. We somehow managed to force a penalty corner on our rivals and now it was on me to score the leveler as I was told to take the corner. By God’s grace I scored for my country and that draw gave us a place in the semis. We finally went on to win the silver medal in 2006 CWG.

Imran Warsi
International hockey player & Olympian
Pakistan.