International accolades may elude many of them, yet, they remain our heroes. Following are brief profiles of several sports people who have done the nation proud.

Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi (Tennis)

The tennis star doesn’t need any introduction after his last year’s performance at the US Open where he finished as the runners-up in both the men’s doubles and mixed doubles events.

The game of tennis runs through the Aisam’s veins. From his mother’s side, he represents the third generation of tennis players. Aisam’s mother Nausheen Iftikhar-Ehtasham was Pakistan’s number one tennis player for 10 years and his maternal grandfather Khawaja Iftikhar was the All-India champion before Partition.

Aisam has won the most number of Davis Cup matches for Pakistan, becoming the most successful singles and doubles player there. At the age of 31 he is Pakistan’s top player. Internationally, his pairing with India’s Rohan Bopanna has brought him much success at various events including the US Open.

Aisam hopes to play for a few more years and we wish him all the success in his future endeavours.

Mehwish Khan (Footballer)

Mehwish, who plays as a right fullback for Pakistan, was the first woman footballer to score an international goal for her country when she donned the green jersey in the national team’s first appearance in the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Women’s Football Championship in Dhaka, Bangladesh last December.

The goal she scored was in the match against Maldives which Pakistan won (2-1). Later, Pakistan also outclassed Afghanistan 3-0 to stroll into the semi-finals of the eight-nation event. Mehwish also has the honour of attending the FIFA Women Football Coaching Course at Colombo, Sri Lanka, in Sept 2010.

Sohail Abbas (Hockey)

Sohail Abbas. -File photo

No one hits the ball as hard as drag flicker Sohail Abbas. Fullback Sohail can be called a late starter as he joined the Pakistan hockey team at the age of 23 in 1998. Since then he has scored 328 international goals, which is a world record in hockey.

In doing so he has also broken many notable records including the Dutch penalty corner specialist Paul Litjen’s record of scoring 58 goals in a year. Sohail topped that with 60 goals in 1999. Being the leading scorer at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney with 11 goals, he beat former centre-forward Hasan Sardar’s 1984 Los Angeles Olympics’ 10-goal record.

Sohail has been the pride of the Pakistan hockey team on several occasions. With him as part of the team we won gold in the 2010 Asian Games and the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in 1999, 2000 and 2003. Last year’s Asian Games saw him in full form in the final against Malaysia in November, when he gave Pakistan the lead by scoring off a penalty corner to give his team a 1-0 lead in the 28th minute. Later, forward Rehan Butt extended it to 2-0 as Malaysia failed to score.

Sohail’s able contribution helped the Green Shirts win the Asian Games after 20 years.

Naseem Hameed (Sprinter)

Naseem Hameed. -File Photo

Naseem Hameed is South Asia’s fastest woman.

The 24-year-old clocked 11.81 seconds in the 100-metre sprint to take the gold medal at the South Asian Games held in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in February 2010. This was a big honour for Pakistan as it happened to be the first time for any Pakistani woman to win the event in the last 26-year history of the region.

Mohammad Essa (Footballer)

Mohammad Essa. -File Photo

Born on November 20, 1983, in Chaman, Mohammad Essa led the Pakistan football team for four years before announcing his retirement after a fallout with the team’s Austrian coach George Kottan in Dec 2009.

He is being pressurised by all his fans to take back his emotional decision ever since, but he is more into coaching now.

The leading scorer (28 goals) for the national side, Essa is still praised for his brilliant goals during the 2004 and 2006 South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championships which Pakistan won and in which he scored five and four goals, respectively.

The Pakistan-India series in 2005 saw him being declared as the ‘Player of the Series’. He is also lauded for scoring the most important goal in the 14th Asian Cup (Group ‘C’) match to tie with the UAE on March 1, 2006. In 2007, he was awarded with the President’s Pride of Performance.

Shahid Rehman (jockey)

Shahid Rehman. -File Photo

The top jockey of Pakistan, Shahid Rehman doesn’t just ride the horses to victory at the Lahore Race Club or the Karachi Race Club.

He is one of the few local jockeys to have also participated in races in England, Ireland and Hong Kong.

The recipient of the President’s Pride of Performance award for excellence in the sport of horse racing in 2008, Shahid developed a fondness for horse racing soon after finishing school but only tried his hand at it after graduating from college. He is the first person from his family to get involved in the sport and to make it his profession and has been racing for 17 years now.

Participating in the Asia Cup in Hong Kong, Shahid finished fourth, something no other jockey here can really boast of. He also competed at Southwell in England and at the racecourses in Ireland while on his visit to training schools there.

Maria Toor Pakay (Squash)

Maria Toor. -File Photo

She may be ranked 72nd in the world but Maria Toor Pakay is Pakistan’s number one woman squash player.

The girl is already a winner to have reached where she is. Belonging to South Waziristan where even educating girls is frowned upon, let alone allowed to pusue a sport, Maria was lucky to have an understanding family that respected her talent. Her father moved the family to Peshawar in order to provide proper education and sporting facilities to his daughter of which she made full use.

Turning professional in 2006, the 21-year-old was nominated as Women’s International Squash Players Association (WISPA) Young Player of the Year in 2007.

Nida Rashid Dar (Cricket)

Nida Dar. -File Photo

Twenty-four-year-old Nida Rashid Dar got instant recognition at the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, last year where the Pakistan women’s team bagged gold.

The final of the inaugural women’s cricket tournament there saw the all-rounder blasting her way to 51 (including seven fours) off 41 deliveries, picking up three wickets while conceding 16 runs besides getting one player run out and taking a spectacular catch to help Pakistan win against Bangladesh.

Saadi Abbas (Karate)

Saadi Abbas. -File Photo

Saadi Abbas is settled in Dubai with his parents but he holds the Pakistan colour for competing internationally in karate championships.

Last month (July, 2011) saw him creating history when he won gold at the Asian Karate Championship in China. Beating tough competitions from Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong and Malaysia, Saadi finally beat Kim Ju Won of South Korea in the -67kg weight category title showdown to become the first Pakistani to clinch gold in the Asian championship.

Earlier, Saadi has also bagged gold in the 2006 South Asian Games and the Commonwealth Karate Championships at Johannesburg in 2009. He is now looking to make his mark at the global level.

Chacha Cricket (cheerleader)

Chacha Cricket. -File Photo

He may not be a sportsman himself but he is the biggest sport around cheering the Pakistan cricket team during its many ups and downs, bringing the crowds to life.

Pakistan may be playing against England or Australia, South Africa or the West Indies, India or Sri Lanka… Afzal Jalil can’t be missed as he hops from one enclosure to another while cheering for his side, motivating the others to follow suit, till he is hoarse.

The bigger the challenge for Pakistan, the louder he shouts to buck up the boys in green as well as the spectators. Swaying the Pakistan flag and dancing away to the crowd’s cheering, Pakistan’s greatest cheerleader Chacha Cricket, as he is fondly called, in his green shirt with a crescent and star on the pocket, has the power to change cheers into roars. It won’t be wrong to call him our national mascot!