KARACHI: Syed Sultan Shah who was elected unopposed recently as the President of the World Blind Cricket Ltd for the term of next two years 2020-2022 has indeed done Pakistan proud with his great run of success and his fantastic achievements in a distinguished career.

For the last eleven years, Sultan is serving as the Chairman Pakistan Blind Cricket Council and taking the organisation to new heights.

He is the first-ever special person from Pakistan to chair the world organization in all fields. And this is not his first success to be the head of the world body as Sultan has been elected on the same premiere position twice earlier — during 2012-2014 and 2014 to 2016.

Sultan Shah’s road to success, however, wasn’t a smooth sailing by any means and, in fact, his life has been full of struggle and challenges which he always overcame with his determination and talent.

Born on Jan 12, 1970 in a village called Hajj-i-Galli, Tehsil Havelian, District Abbottabad (KPK), Sultan Shah became blind at the age of nine years. However, not deterred by the tragedy, he continued his journey of excellence.

He got his early education from Ida Rieu School for the Blind in Karachi and obtained his Master’s Degree in Political Science from Sindh University Jam Shoru. Despite blindness, he translated the unique amount of talent he possessed and achieved excellence through sheer hard work, dedication, and devotion.

Sultan started playing cricket in 1983 at the age of 13 years and later rose to become the first Captain of the Pakistan blind cricket team. He also had the honour to bowl the first ball for Pakistan and to get the first International wicket for Pakistan on the third ball of his first over.

Sultan’s big moment came when he led the Pakistan team to the final of the first World Cricket Cup of the Blind in 1998 in New Delhi, India where Pakistan, unfortunately, lost the final against South Africa.

Later, however, Pakistan avenged that defeat by beating South Africa in their own backyard by 6-0 under Sultan Shah’s captaincy in November 2000, which significantly was the first International series triumph for Pakistan.

Sultan’s another big achievement was to get Pakistan to host the 3rd World Cricket Cup of the Blind in Islamabad in Dec 2006 with a great success. That was also the first mega event of Special Persons held in Pakistan.

Later, he also accomplished the fabulous feat of hosting the 5th Edition of Cricket World Cup of the Blind (ODI format) in 2018 in Pakistan and the U.A.E. That was the first Blind Cricket World Cup hosted simultaneously by two countries.

His other great achievement is the development of the cricket for the blind in Nepal and Bangladesh in 2006 and 2008. Both are now full members of WBC and have played several World Cups.

Considering his tremendous services, the World Blind Cricket Ltd unanimously elected him as Director Cricket Development for Asia Region in Nov 2008 and further elected him as First Vice President in 2011.

When most of the cricket teams of the world refused to play in Pakistan due to security concerns, he took the initiative for the revival of International sports in Pakistan by hosting blind cricket series against India in Nov 2011 and again in Feb 2014 and was also instrumental in staging the series against Sri Lanka in April 2016 and gave a clear and loud message to the world that Pakistan is safe for sports.

Against all odds, he launched the Women Blind Cricket in Pakistan by adding to the global agenda of “Leaving No One Behind”, Sultan further hosted the world’s first-ever Inter­nati­onal Women Blind Cricket Series versus Nepal n Jan-Feb 2019. That was another proud moment for Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2020