Pakistani field hockey player Naveed Alam was a fullback for the national team during the mid-1990s. In 1994 Alam was part of the team that won the Hockey World Cup in Sydney after beating the Dutch team in a penalty shoot-out. The same year he won gold with victory at the Hockey Champions Trophy, and a bronze medal at the Asian Games in Hiroshima. At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, however, the Pakistan team had a disappointing performance where they finished sixth.
After his career as a player Alam turned to coaching and became the head coach of the national team. He led the team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics but resigned soon after when they finished eighth, their worst performance at the Olympics to that point. Later he also worked as the head coach of the national teams of Bangladesh and China. In 2016 Alam was named as the director of development for the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), but was sacked two years later after being critical of the organisation. His career suffered more controversy in 2020 when the Punjab Hockey Association (PHA) handed him a ten-year ban for forming a parallel association and being involved in anti-hockey activities. Sadly, Alam died less than a year later after a battle with blood cancer.
Pakistan