Abdul Khaliq (athlete)

Abdul Khaliq ()(Subedar Abdul Khaliq, Parinda e Asia) (23 March 1933 – 10 March 1988) was a Pakistani sprinter from 8 Medium Regiment Artillery who won 36 international gold medals, 15 international silver medals, and 12 International bronze medals for Pakistan.  He competed in the 100m, 200m and 4 x 100 metres relay.   He participated in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and the 1960 Rome Olympics.  He also participated in the 1954 Asian Games and the 1958 Asian Games.  He was born in the small village of Jand Awan in Chakwal, Punjab, now in Pakistan, and died on 10 March 1988 in Rawalpindi. 

International career

1954

1954 Asian Games
During the 1954 Asian Gamesm Khaliq set a new record of 10.6 seconds in the 100-meter race by beating the previous record of 10.8 seconds, held by Lavy Pinto of India in 1951.  Because of this, Abdul Khaliq was dubbed as Fastest Man of Asia.  The Indian Prime Minister at the time, Jawaharlal Nehru, also chief guest, dubbed him "The Flying Bird of Asia".  
He won the 100m gold medal and the 4 × 100 m relay silver medal. 

He also played in the World Military Games, held at Canada. 

Commonwealth and British Empire Games
He was a 100-yard semi-finalist and a 4x110-yards finalist

1955 

 Represented the World Military Games at Athens (Greece)

1956

Indo-Pak Meet at Delhi
Abdul Khaliq created new Asian records in both the 100- and 200-meter events. 
Abdul Khaliq won the 100 m dash by defeating Indian athlete V.K. Rai, winning the 100 m Gold medal with a 10.4-second time. 
Abdul Khaliq triumphed in the 200 m race and defeated Lavy Pinto of India.  Muhammad Sharif Butt broke the record of 200 m in 22.0 seconds held by Lavy Pinto in 1954 Asian Games with 21.9 seconds.  Later on, this record was broken by Abdul Khaliq. 
He also won the 200 m Gold Medal, clocking in at 21.4 sec. 

World Military Games at Berlin
Abdul Khaliq Finished third in the final of the 100-meter, with 10.4 seconds, equal to his Delhi timing. 
He won the 100-, 200-, and 4x100- meter bronze medals. 

Pakistan Athletics Training Program in England
Sub.  Abdul Khaliq, the "Fastest Man of Asia", defeated Britain Number 1 and Number 2, Shanton and Spooner, in both sprints. 

He won the 100-yard in 10.1 sec at an international meet in high land games on a turf track which was rendered wet due to incessant rains in the morning.  Here, he defeated athletes from 15 countries of Europe.  Some of the leading coaches described it as a very good performance and said it was equal to 9.5 sec on a cinder track. 

Victorian Relay Championship
Abdul Khaliq ran a 100-meter race in 10.4 seconds, equalling the Australian National record at Olympic Park.  Khaliq's was only one-tenth of a second outside of Bobby Morrow's Gold Medal in the Olympic Games' 100 m final. 

Melbourne Olympics
In 1956, Abdul Khaliq was at his best.  He reached to the level of the semi-finals of both the 100 m and 200 m races.  On 24 November 1956, the day of the semi-finals and the final of the 100 m in the Olympics, Abdul Khaliq ran two hard races on the same day as "Anchor Man" for the winning Pakistan team in the 4x110-yard in the Victorian Relay Championship before tackling the 100 m dash of the semi-final.  With Khaliq running the last leg, the Pakistan team romped home 10 yards clear in the final clocking 41.6 seconds, one-tenth of a second outside of the national record held by the Australian Olympics team. 

He won the 100 m gold medal and the 4x100 yd gold medal. 

He finished the race in 21.1 sec in both, 100 m and 200 m. 21.1 seconds was best time of all rounds except the final.  His performance placed him in top most seven athletes at the time. 

100 Metres
First Round, Heat 3 (The first two in each heat qualified for the second round.) 

Second Round, Heat 2 (The first three in each heat qualified for the Semi-finals.) 

On the same day, Abdul Khaliq came, after running 4x110 yards for the Victorian Relay Championship.  It became difficult to run the 100 m dash.  He could not perform his best because of improper rest.   
Semi-final, Heat 1 (The first three in each heat qualified for the Final)

200 Metres
First Round, Heat 5 (The first two in each heat qualified for the second round.) 

Second Round, Heat 1 (The first three in each heat qualified for the Semi-finals.) 

Semi-final, Heat 1 (The first three in each heat qualified for the Final)

4*100 Metres Relay
Round One, Heat 1 (The first three in each heat qualified for the Next Round)
Athletes from the following five countries participated in this round. 
1.  United States 2.  Great Britain 3.  Pakistan 4.  Venezuela 5.  Liberia

Semi-final, Heat 2 (The first three in each heat qualified for the Next Round)
Athletes from the following six countries participated in this round. 
1.  Soviet Union 2.  Germany 3.  Great Britain 4.  Australia 5.  Pakistan 6.  Japan

Final Standing in Melbourne Olympics

1957

World Military Games Athen
In the 100-metre dash, Abdul Khaliq got 2nd place and was beaten by USA.  Pakistan secured the fifth position. 

Tehran (Iran)
In Tehran, he won the 100- and 200-metre gold medals. 

Manchester Athletics Meet
Abdul Khaliq equaled the British all-comer record of 9.6 sec for the 100-yard sprints.  He won by inches from American B. Thomes. 

Dublin Athletics Meet
Khaliq won the 100-yard dash at 9.8 sec.  He beat Britain's D. Roberts. 

Glasgow Rangers Sports
Khaliq won two events.  Abdul Khaliq clocked 11.6 seconds in the 120 yards handicap, where he started from scratch.  In 220 yards, he was too fast for the British runner.  He beat Shenton, who ran a 22.0 sec race. 

Highland Games Edinburg (Scotland)
Khaliq participated in 100 yards and got first position, with a time of 9.9 seconds. 

1958

London
Khaliq finished close second to Brittan's R. Sandsorm in the 100m dash, with a time of 10.6 seconds. 

British Empire and Commonwealth Games at Cardiff
He was a 100-yard semi-finalist, clocking in at 9.8 seconds. 

1958 Asian Games at Tokyo 
Khaliq participated in the 3rd Asian Games at Tokyo.  He defended his title in the 100 m race, by defeating Kyohei Ushio of Japan.  Abdul Khaliq won 3 medals in the 3rd Asian Games.  With Khaliq's contributions, Pakistan secured 2nd position in Athletics and 6th in the overall rankings. 

Dual Empire Games
Khaliq was 3rd in the 100 yards. 

London
Khaliq won the 220 yards, with 21.5 seconds. 

1959

Goetburgh (Sweden)
In the 100 m race, Khaliq was 4th. 

Malmo
In the 100 m race, Khaliq was third. 

Gavel
Khaliq finished behind Abdon Saye of France in 21.9 seconds in 200m.

Boraas
Khaliq took 200m dash in 21.7 sec.  
    200m 21.7sec

Gothenburg
Khaliq was second in 100m one tenth of a second behind the winner. 
    100m 10.8sec

Bradford (England)
Khaliq won the 100 yards race clocking 10.1sec
    100 yards	Gold Medal (10.1 sec)

International Meet at Dublin
Khaliq triumphed in the 220 yards clocking 22.2 sec to win. 

Glasgow (Scotland)
Khaliq won the 120 yards sprint in 11.6sec. 

1960

World Olympics 1960 (Rome)
100 metres
First Round, Heat 2 (The first three in each heat qualified for the second round.) 
Abdul Khaliq had passed his peek time so he could not qualify for the next round.  

4*100 Metres Relay
Round One, Heat 3 (The first three in each heat qualified for the Next Round)
Athletes from the following five Countries Participated in this round. 
1.  Germany 2.  Pakistan 3.  Poland 4.  Grece

Cairo
    100m Gold Medal
    200m Gold Medal

International Meet at Lahore
    100m 10.4 seconds Gold medal
             (Fastest Man of the Meet; but he lost to Milkha Singh of India in the 400M which was only race the two of them ran against each other in that meet.  Milkha Singh beat Abdul Khaliq in all races where they ran against each other)
    200m Bronze Medal
   4*100m 41.5 seconds Gold Medal

1962

World Milary Games (Holland)
   100m Bronze Medal

International Meet in Ipoh (Malaysia)
   100m	    Silver Medal
   200m	    Bronze Medal

1962 Asian Games at Jakarta 
In 100 meters Pakistan's both entries failed to qualify for the final.  Holder of the previous two meets, Khaliq, finished fourth in the semi-final with 10.7 seconds. 

In 200 Khaliq qualified for semi-final but did not produced the same to qualify for finals. 

Coaching career

Athletic coaches clinic attended
  1967 at Murree for 6 weeks under German Coach
  1974 at Hassan Abdal under USA Coaches
  1976 at Lahore under Russian Coaches
  1981 at Rawalpindi under I.O.C Coaches

Coaching 

 Army Coach 1965, 1966, 1967, 1970 & 1971
 Punjab 1974 & 1975
 National Coach 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977 & 1978
 Joined National Sports Trust Asian Athletics Coach 23 December 1975
 Punjab Sports Board Teachers Clinics
 National Coaches Clinic 1976
 Local PTI Clinic Lahore 1979

Achievements

Medals

Presidential Award 
Khaliq was given the Presidential Award Pride of Performance in 1958 by President Ayub Khan for his achievements. 

Medals (international)

Running statistics

External links 
  Official Facebook page

References 

Category:1933 births
Category:1988 deaths
Category:Asian Games gold medalists for Pakistan
Category:Asian Games silver medalists for Pakistan
Category:Asian Games bronze medalists for Pakistan
Category:Asian Games medalists in athletics (track and field)
Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1954 Asian Games
Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1956 Summer Olympics
Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1958 Asian Games
Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics
Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1962 Asian Games
Category:Commonwealth Games competitors for Pakistan
Category:Medalists at the 1954 Asian Games
Category:Medalists at the 1958 Asian Games
Category:Olympic athletes of Pakistan
Category:Pakistan Navy personnel
Category:Pakistani male sprinters
Pakistani prisoners of war in 1971
Category:People from Chakwal District
Category:Punjabi people
Recipients of the Pride of Performance award in 1958