Muhammad Amer Islam, son of the veteran champion Muhammad Islam, was born on 2nd March 1967 in Faislabad. Initially, Amer Islam’s interests were Swimming and Gymnastics, but he never knew he would end up becoming a professional Badminton player and would be remembered as the Legend of Pakistan.
He, unlike many other athletes, took a late start to the game after completing his Matric. His father’s colleague, Zahid Maqbool, once saw him playing in an outdoor court with his friend Tahir Javed. He instantly spotted the vision & spark in his eyes, which signalled how inclined & passionate he was regarding Badminton immediately. That moment, Amir's father also realised that he had the potential to climb up the ladder and achieve milestones that lay ahead of him.
Thus, his father allowed his friend, who at that time was a Top National player, to take Amer Islam along with him to train. He started off his professional training at Police Citizen Badminton Hall under Zahid Maqbool and Naheed Ahmad.
In the beginning, his father was worried about his short height, so he used to take him to Jinnah Park and instruct him to hang on the bar for several minutes. After giving his son a motivational start, his father entrusted him to the custody of his coach, Zahid Maqbool. After training his basics and polishing his skills, he went on to test his luck at the District Badminton Championship 1983, but lost the first round. However, real champions do not quit that easily, and so Amir Islam did not get demotivated and kept working hard.
The next year, he made his 1st international presence at Sarch Championship 1988 (India) where he was titled the 5th Best player. It is also to be noted that Amir Islam never hesitated to show his mental strength at one of the biggest titles, National Games 1990 at Peshawar, clinching Men’s Singles title.
In the same year, he represented Pakistan in Asian Games (1990) in China, where he became the second player to be ranked 5th in Asia, Tariq Wadood being the 1st. The following year, he won the title of 1991 National Championship Lahore, where he ended up the 2 year winning streak of Ali Yar Baig in the Finals.
As the list of the champion Amir Islam's achievements would be never-ending, here are some of the most wondrous & noticable ones :
- National Championship (1992) Peshawar (Runner up Men’ Singles)
- National Games (1992) Lahore (Winner Men’s Singles)
- National Championship (1993) Karachi (Winner Mixed Doubles and Runner up Men’s Doubles)
- National Games (1994) Quetta (WInner Men’s Singles and Runner up Men’s Doubles)
- National Championship (1994) Lahorer (Runner up Men’s Singles)
- National Championship (1995) Peshawar (Winner Men’s Singles)
- National Championship (1996) Karachi (Winner Men’s Singles)
- National Games (1997) Karachi (Winner Men’s Singles)
- National Games (1999) Peshawar (Winner Men’s Singles)
- National Championship (2001) Karachi (Runner up Men’s Singles)
- National Championship (2003) Islamabad (Semi Finalist Men’s Singles)
As mentioned above, he bagged the title of National Championship 4 times in Men’s Singles and once in Mixed Doubles, reaching 9 National Finals. Moreover, he never let his teammates down in the National Games, and won gold medals for his team several times. Furthermore, he had 30+ international tours, representing Pakistan worldwide including India, Malaysia, China, Iran, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, Switzerland etc.
However, in 1996, things took a big turn for Amir Islam. While playing against Nadeem Javed at WAPDA Inter-unit Championship, his tendon was ruptured. At that time, there was a lack of awareness relating to such sports injuries, so the champion could not have a proper rehab process, prolonging his injury up to 4 years. His coaches, Zahid Maqbool and Naheed Ahmed, along with his parents, did all they possibly could to ensure that this injury would not end his career. Receiving all the support that his fans could give him, deep inside he still had hope that one day he would make a comeback and resume his game from where he left off.
After going through a tough time, he was back in court after 4 years and was hungrier than ever to bag those titles. Finally, Amer made his comeback in the National Championship 2001 at Karachi, where the odds were against him but he left everyone stranded by reaching the Final Round, settling for the silver after a close fight against former Champion Wajid Ali Chaudhry. Such was his determination & passion, he never let his injury affect him any further in his career as he went on to play the Semi Finals of National Championship (2003) Islamabad.
RETIREMENT:
Despite being 36, he tried his best to clinch National titles but never got one. However, he remained in the top 8 best players of Pakistan from 2003-2009, even when he retired from Men’s Singles category after playing his last tournament in 2008: All Pakistan Ranking tournament 2008 at New Khan, Lahore. However, he never wanted to quit competitive badminton. This passion and love for badminton led him to play in the Veteran category, where he was crowned as Veteran National Champion for 3 consecutive years (2009-2011) in Singles and Doubles, proving the fact that 'Age is just a number.' According to Muhammad Amer Islam, despite his all remarkable achievements, he was never encouraged by the Pakistan Badminton Federation, where he had to accept cash prizes not worth for a National Champion. This crushes a player's motivation to continue on the court. After putting in so much dedication and unlimited effort, the end result (cash prizes,) could not reciprocate to the needs of a true National Champion like him. A genuine and golden player of Pakistan sadly could not receive the recognition and rewards he deserved. Things came to a final end in 2011 when Wajid Ali (General Secretary Pakistan Badminton Federation) eliminated the Veteran Category, and the champion had no other choice but to take retirement.
Continuing the legacy
It is not to be forgotten that Muhammad Amer Islam was among one of the few players who's Badminton career lasted for more than 20 years. It is the dream of every champion to play for that long professionally. His incredible journey gave us not one, but many lessons. Amer Islam showed us to never give up, to rise again stronger after every failure, and to push our limits as much as we can. He is, and will always remain a Star of the Badminton community.
Written by: Muhammad Anas Akhtar (Admin FBCOP)
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