By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net,
Bhopal : Shakeel Ahmad Qureshi, a former international hockey umpire Grade-1, has been appointed umpire manager for the Asian Games scheduled to be organised in Incheon, South Korea from September 19.
It must be noted that India’s International hockey umpire Grade-1 Shakeel Qureshi was appointed by International Hockey Federation, (FIH), as a technical official in various international tournaments. He hails from the central Indian state Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal. He called it a day and hung his whistle on the wall after a remarkable career spanning 16 years from 1991 to 2006.
Qureshi, who is the only Grade-1 hockey umpire from Madhya Pradesh, recently returned from international women hockey tournament organised in Singapore. He was appointed as course conductor for the Victory Hockey Tournament in Bangladesh. In the past he has also been appointed trainee umpire and manager for the Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament held at Ipoh in Malaysia.
Having performed the umpiring duties in 75 international hockey matches, Qureshi on August 29, 2012 was felicitated with the Lifetime Achievement Award on Sports Day by the Madhya Pradesh Government. He is also a recipient of Vishwamitra Award, the highest Madhya Pradesh sports award for umpires and coaches.
He is credited to be the only Indian to have supervised all the final matches of national hockey final played from 1991 to 2006.