Syed Hussain Shah ( ur, ) (born August 14, 1964) is a retired

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

from

Lyari Lyari (Urdu: ; sd, لیاري) is a historic locality in Karachi, Pakistan. It is the most densely-populated part of Karachi, and is one of its earliest settled areas.Sarwat Viqar (2014) Constructing Lyari: place, governance and identity in a Kar ...

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

, who won the bronze medal in the Middleweight division (71–75 kg) at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

, South Korea. This was the country's first ever Olympic boxing medal.Pakistan's Shah Hussain reaches men's judo final
26 July 2014 Retrieved 26 July 2014 He remains the only Pakistani sportsperson to win an individual medal at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

in the last fifty-plus years. Only other Pakistani to ever win an individual Olympic medal is the wrestler

Muhammad Bashir Mohammad Bashir ( ur, محمد بشیر) (10 March 1935, in Lahore – 24 June 2001, in Lahore) was a wrestler from Pakistan, who won the bronze medal in freestyle wrestling in the welterweight class (73 kg) at the 1960 Summer Olympics in ...

, who won a bronze medal at the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

Early life

Shah was born in Lyari, Karachi. As a child Shah used to live on streets due to being homeless, he used to work as labor to earn money. Shah trained himself for boxing on streets using garbage bags as a replacement for

punching bag A punching bag (or, British English, punchbag) is a sturdy bag designed to be repeatedly punched. A punching bag is usually cylindrical, and filled with various materials of suitable hardness. History Punching bags have been used in martial ar ...

Career

Shah won his first gold medal at

1984 South Asian Games The 1984 South Asian Games (or 1st SAF Games) was the first edition of South Asian Games. It was held in Kathmandu, Nepal from 17 to 23 September 1984. The number of disciplines were restricted to five only. India topped the medal tally, winning ...

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city i ...

, along with Asghar Ali, Ilyas Ahmed and Muhammad Yousaf. At the 1987 edition of the Games in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

, he was adjudged the 'best boxer'. At the 1988 Olympics he shared the podium with

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

Chris Sande Christopher Joseph Sande (born 10 February 1964) is a Kenyan former professional boxer. As an amateur, he won the bronze medal in the Middleweight division at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. He shared the podium with Pakistan's Hussain Sha ...

. He was Pakistan's first boxer to win any medal in olympic boxing. In 1989,

born boxer received

Sitara-i-Imtiaz The Sitara-e-Imtiaz () also spelled as Sitara-i-Imtiaz, is the third-highest (in the order of "Imtiaz") honour and civilian award in the State of Pakistan. It recognizes individuals who have made an "especially meritorious contribution to the ...

medal from

Government of Pakistan The Government of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=hakúmat-e pákistán) abbreviated as GoP, is a federal government established by the Constitution of Pakistan as a constituted governing authority of the four provinces, two autonomous territorie ...

. Shah, who has also to his credit five gold in the South Asian Games history, remained the best boxer of Asia from 1980 to 1988, a rare prominence achieved by any Pakistani pugilist so far. He later moved to Japan, where his son

Shah Hussain Shah Shah Hussain Shah (8 June 1993, London)S. Hussain Shah
Glasgow ...

learned judo and went on to represent Pakistan at the international level.

Popular Culture

A biopic called ''

Shah Shah (; fa, شاه, , ) is a royal title that was historically used by the leading figures of Iranian monarchies.Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) It was also used by a variety of ...

'' was released in Pakistan on 14 August 2015. The film chronicles Hussain Shah's poverty stricken childhood, his rise to fame as the Asian Boxing Champion and Olympic Bronze Medalist, his subsequent return to poverty and finally his migration to Japan to coach Japanese boxers. The movie is directed and written by

Adnan Sarwar Adnan Sarwar is a Pakistani actor, director, musician, screenwriter, producer, lyricist, doctor and racing driver. He made his film debut in the biopic ''Shah (film), Shah'', in which he also played the leading role. Career Music From 2002 onwar ...

with music by Adnan Sarwar and Farhan Albert.

Olympic results

*1st round bye *Defeated Martín Amarillas 3-2 *Defeated Serge Kabongo 5-0 *Defeated Zoltán Füzesy 3-2 *Lost to Egerton Marcus 1-4

References

External links

Biography at Pakistan Sports Board
1964 births Living people Boxers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers of Pakistan Olympic bronze medalists for Pakistan Recipients of Sitara-i-Imtiaz Pakistani expatriates in Japan Sindhi people Olympic medalists in boxing Martial artists from Karachi Asian Games medalists in boxing Boxers at the 1986 Asian Games Pakistani male boxers Boxers at the 1990 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games competitors for Pakistan Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics People from Lyari Town Asian Games silver medalists for Pakistan Medalists at the 1986 Asian Games South Asian Games gold medalists for Pakistan South Asian Games medalists in boxing Middleweight boxers {{Pakistan-Olympic-medalist-stub