By Zoeb Tayebjee                                     AWAAZ  MAGAZINE 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is rarely that in any sporting history father and son have been known to represent the country in two disciplines. Yusuf Karim and Asif Karim - father and son - have done so in cricket and in tennis. Yusuf, emigrated to Kenya from Bombay in 1937 when he was barely out of his nappies (at the age of two). He eventually went on to become a sports icon. He took up cricket and tennis, played for the national teams, but later decided to concentrate on tennis, a game that made him the Coast champion virtually uninterruptedly for 25 years (1951-77). During this time he owned a shop for sporting goods in Mombasa.

When Yusuf finally hung up his racket, Asif took over the mantle and went on to represent the national tennis team and participate in the Davis Cup, the highest level a tennis-player can go in Kenya. Asif also led the Kenya Davis Cup team. He studied at Howard University, USA, on a tennis scholarship and built a tennis career of his own before switching to cricket. How many fathers and sons have played for their country's national cricket and tennis teams?
Asif was first called to the national cricket team in 1980 for a tour to Zimbabwe, mainly to do the spinning job that he did so efficiently. This tour
enabled him to secure a permanent place in the team for the next 23 years or so. He also featured in the ICC trophy during 1986, 1990, 1994 and 1997, besides playing in three World Cups as well as the Commonwealth games.
 
He played his first World Cup in 1996 when Kenya caused a major upset by defeating the mighty West Indies. During this tourney he finished as fourth best bowler on the economy rate. Three years later, a master mind of the game, he was chosen to lead Kenya in the 1999 World Cup in England.

He retired after the England tour to concentrate on his insurance business. In the next four years he hardly tossed a ball until he was re-called for the 2003 World Cup (in South Africa) in which he gave the usually omnipotent Australians the heebie-jeebies with a surreal spell of 3 wickets for 7 runs, just under eight overs. These were the last wickets of his great career that will never be forgotten. He took wickets off Aussie Captain Ricky Ponting, Darren Lehman and Bradd Hogg. For his brilliant performance he was named the manof- the-match and took the honours of being the second best bowler on the economy rate, behind England's Andrew Flintoff. A shrewd bowler, with nagging line and length, he would quickly identify the weaknesses of the batsmen and go on to grab the wickets. As a member of the Kenya national teams, cricket took him to almost all the cricket-playing nations.

The love of sports is ingrained in the family. His older brother Arif, too, plays good tennis and cricket and is now settled in Kampala running an insurance business and a sports shop. The youngest in the family, Altaf, is settled in Orlanda, also in insurance business.

At 44, Asif has his hand in a number of projects. He is managing director of Aristocrats insurance brokers. He earned a degree in business and insurance from Howard University in Washington, DC. He runs a small magazine devoted to sports in Kenya and also dabbles in real estate. His ambition is to write a book on his sporting career and is busy organizing twenty-five years of press clippings and photos to achieve his goal.

Married to Nazneen, they recently celebrated their 20th anniversary. They have two daughters Fatema (18) and Zainab (9), and two sons, Irfan (14) and Imran (4). Irfan was named the 'batsman of the tournament' in the just concluded under-15 regional cricket competition that featured Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda. He had knocked 49 runs against Rwanda, 112 against Tanzania and 28 against Uganda.

Another Karim is on the rise. The father-son tradition is being relayed into the third generation as a dynasty is established in Kenya's galaxy of sport. Visit www.awaazmagazine.com for more stories