LAHORE, June 1: Former hockey Olympian  and national captain Munir Ahmed Dar died in the wee hours of Wednesday due to protracted illness.

He was 76.The deceased left behind three sons and a widow to mourn his death.

Dar had been suffering from cancer for the last six months.

He was part of the Pakistan team which won gold medal at the 1960 Olympics and silver medals in 1956 and 1964 Olympics. He also captained Pakistan hockey team from 1965 to 1967.

Dar’s younger brother late Tanvir Dar and son Tauqir Dar also represented the country. Tanvir and Tauqir were part of the squads that also won gold at the 1968 and 1984 Olympics respectively.

He established a hockey academy after the name of his late brother which is being run by his son. Currently, a team of the academy is on a European tour.

Dar also proved a highly successful owner of horses at the Lahore Racecourse and had been elevated as a steward of the Jockey Club Of Pakistan for many years.

His horses won many important events. His gelding, Millennium Count, held the record fastest timing over 1,400 metres for Pakistani horses, set up in Jan 2003.

Dar was laid to rest at the Defence graveyard. His funeral was attended by a large number of people belonging to different walks of life, including Khawaja Zakauddin, Akhtar Rasool, PHF president Qasim Zia, secretary Asif Bajwa, Olympian Rana Mujahid, former PHF secretaries Col (retd) Mudassar and Brig (retd) Mussaratullah Khan, former international player Qasim Khan, besides colleagues from Police, from where he retired as DIG.

They condoled the sad demise of Dar and termed it a great loss. Paying tributes to late Dar, Mahmood Khan, a prominent horse owner, said Dar was hearty, jovial and loquacious person.

A former national cricketer, president of Punters Association and a prominent city lawyer, Aftab Gul, said Dar was a man of many traits.

He had vast knowledge of horses, their pedigrees and would predict abilities of bloodlines of horses.

Lahore Race Club secretary Shahzad Akhtar lamented that in his death he has lost a benevolent guide.