Abdul Rasheed Junior — The iconic hockey star with three Olympic medals

Abdul Rasheed Junior — The iconic hockey star with three Olympic medals

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s district Bannu has produced many brilliant field hockey players for Pakistan. Hockey has been the district’s identity. In fact, Bannu has played the role of a nursery for Pakistan hockey, producing many greats of the game. The seeds of hockey in Bannu, as in many other parts of the sub-continent, were planted by the British. Bannu was founded as Dhulipnagar in 1848 by Herbert Benjamin Edwardes. He was a lieutenant in a regiment of the East India Company’s private army which was posted there. Although the outpost was initially named after the Maharajah of Lahore at the time, the town became Edwardesabad in 1869. In 1903, it finally received its current name, Bannu. Hockey was seen as a game to attain peak physical fitness and soldiers of the British army were into the game because of this reason. Watching soldiers in action, Bannu’s indigenous youth was also inspired to play this game. Little did they know then that hockey will become a source of pride for the area.