
KARACHI: In family lore, the year 1976 shines with a particular light. It was the year of the Montreal Olympics, and a young man from Karachi named Marghoob Hasan Ansari carried the dream of representing Pakistan in field hockey. Whether he stood on the turf or carried the hope only in his heart, that dream became a family heirloom — a lost legacy of sporting ambition that his daughter, Shehla Nasir, would hold onto. With time and distance, it faded into the realm of proud, silent ghosts. Almost 49 years later, and 3,800 kilometres south, that ghost found its voice. It did not speak on the AstroTurf, but on a perfect, frozen sheet in Coral Springs, Florida. It did not cheer for a field hockey flick, but for the thunderous clap of a puck against plexiglass. And it did not watch a son, but a grandson. In the stands, surrounded by a sea of opposing colours, a small, defiant cluster of green flags fluttered. Among them stood the Olympian’s daughter, Shehla — her heart a storm of memory and miracle — as her son, M...