S'pore's world-class hockey 'keeper Anwarul mourned

Once hailed as the world's best goalkeeper by then International Hockey Federation technical committee chairman A.S. Dara, Singapore's Anwarul Haque died on June 24 at the age of 85.

- David Lee

He is survived by his wife Rita Minjoot, their three sons Shehzad, Tariq and Kamil and three grandchildren.

Shehzad said his father "lived life to the fullest, had a great sense of humour and was dearly loved by friends and family alike".

Born in Singapore in 1939 as the eldest of seven children, Anwarul grew to become a colossal figure in hockey.

His international hockey career began in 1956 when he was a junior to the Singapore team who played at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

He would become a full international a year later and went to the 1964 Tokyo Games as one of four Singaporeans, alongside Douglas Paul Nonis, Kanalingam Sinnathamby and Kartar Singh, who were selected for the Malaysian hockey team who finished ninth out of 15 teams.

He played for Singapore at the 1962 and 1970 Asian Games, where they finished fifth in both editions, and helped the Republic to a silver medal at the 1971 South-east Asian Peninsular Games, the predecessor to the SEA Games.