Since independence, Pakistani sportspersons have always brought laurels for the country in various sports, from team sports to individual sports, in this thread, I will highlight some major achievements by Pakistani athletes in various sporting events.

Pakistan competed in the Olympic Games for the first time at the 1948 Olympics in London. 35 participated in 6 sports. Athletics, Swimming, Cycling, Weightlifting, Hockey & Boxing. Wrestlers had mistakenly entered for Greco-Roman style instead of freestyle. Hockey finished 4th.

1951, Hashim Khan outclassed Mahmoud Karim to win British Open Squash, the first major title by a Pakistani athlete. This started Pak's glory in Squash. He won British Open for 6 consecutive years before losing to Roshan in 1957, he won again in 58 then Azam won the next four.

In 1952, Pakistan won first team championship in any sport when our Football team jointly shared the Colombo Cup’s title with India. Pakistan beat Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and Burma and settled for a goalless draw with India to become the joint winner of the inaugural Colombo Cup.

Pakistan Cricket team played its first cricket Test in 1952 against India, in Delhi. They lost the inaugural Test but came back strongly to win the second of series in Lucknow by an innings and 43 runs to register country’s first-ever win in Cricket.

Din Muhammad won the first-ever official Gold medal for Pakistan in a multisport event. He downed Japan’s Yushu Kitano to win the Gold medal in the 52kg wrestling event of Manila Asian Games 1954. Muhammad Iqbal Butt won Silver in Weightlifting competition.

1954 Asian Games also saw Pak's glory in Athletics. Abdul Khaliq became the fastest man of Asia by winning the Gold medal in 100m. Sharif Butt won the Gold medal in 200m. Mirza Khan won 400m while Muhammad Nawaz won the Gold medal in Javelin throw event for the country.

Masood Fakhri of Pakistan Football team became the first-ever player from South Asia to score a hat-trick in an international match when he made three consecutive goals in Pakistan’s 6-2 win against Singapore during 1954’s Asian Games.

In 1954 Commonwealth games, Pakistan’s Muhammad Iqbal won the Gold medal in Hammer throw event. Pakistan also won three silver and two Bronze medal in Vancouver CWG 1954.

In the year 1956, Olympics Games at Melbourne, Pakistan won its first-ever Olympic medal. A silver in Hockey event, after going down fighting against India in the final.

Pakistan won its first major gold medal in Hockey event by winning the Gold medal in Asian Games 1958. They later won 8 Asian Games gold medal. Pakistan also won 5 gold medals in athletics. These medals were won by Abdul Khaliq, Mubarik Shah, Ghulam Raziq, M Iqbal, M Nawaz.

In 1958 Commonwealth Games, held at Cardiff, Pakistan's Muhammad Akhtar, Muhammad Ashraf and Muhammad Bashir won Gold medals for Pakistan. All Wrestling.

In January 1958, during Pakistan's Test vs West Indies, Hanif Mohammad scored 337, which is still Pakistan's highest individual score in Test. He batted for 970 minutes, still WR of longest innings by minutes. In 1959, he scored 499 in FC game, which remained WR for 35 years.

In 1960, Pakistan won its first-ever Olympic Gold, beating India in the final at Rome. Naseer Bunda scored the decisive goal as the Hameedi-led-Pakistan team won the Gold medal. Rome Olympics was the only time when Pak won two medals, the other was won by M Bashir in Wrestling.

1962 was probably Pakistan's glorious year for sports, the country won 16 gold medals in Asian & Commonwealth Games. Azam Khan won British Open Squash. Pak was already Hockey Olympic Champions during the period. So, 62 was one of the best years for the country's sport.

In 1962 Commonwealth Games, Perth, Pakistan won 7 Gold medals in Wrestling. These medals were won by Niaz Muhammad, Sarij Din, Alauddin, Muhammad Akhtar, Muhammad Bashir, Faiz Muhammad, and Muhammad Niaz. Ghulam Raziq won Gold in 110m hurdles.

Pakistan’s first major success in Boxing came in 1962 Asian Games when M Safdar & Barkat Ali won Gold medals in light heavyweight & heavyweight categories in Jakarta. Mubarik Shah won two Gold in Athletics. (3000 M. S/chase & 5000 Metres). Niaz, Saeed & Faiz won Wrestling Gold.

After losing to India in the Gold medal match in 1964 Olympics, Pakistan came back strongly to win the Gold medal in 1968 Olympics in Mexico. Before that, in 1966, Pakistan won four Wrestling Gold medals in CWG and one gold medal apiece in Athletics and Wrestling in Asian Games.

The 70s were great for Pak Hockey. During the decade of the 70s, Pakistan Hockey team won Hockey World Cups, the inaugural Champions Trophy, three Asian Games Gold, and silver & bronze at the Olympic Games. In 1978, Pak won three titles: World Cup, Champions Trophy & Asian Games.

Pakistani Wrestlers also did well to start the 70s by winning four gold and two silver medals at Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh. Athlete Muhammad Younis and boxers like Iqbal, Imtiaz, and Khan Mohammad kept Pakistan's flag high in their respective sports in the 70s.

In 1978 Asian Games, Byram D. Avari and Munir Sadiq won the gold medal in sailing at the 1978 Asian Games in Bangkok. Byram Avari also won a silver medal at the Enterprise World Championship held in Canada in 1978.

In 1982, Byram won another Gold medal for Pakistan, this time with his wife Goshpi Avari. Subsequently, Soshpi became first female medalist from Pakistan in Asian Games. Captain Khalid Akhtar also won a sailing Gold medal for Pakistan in 82' Asian Games.

The 1980s also saw the start of Pakistan's transition from being a Hockey lover to Cricket obsessed country. Although there were some great Hockey wins in the 80s, but by the late 80s, cricket was taking steps to overpower Hockey in the country.

Pakistan won the Hockey World Cup in India in 1982, but four years later they finished 11th in 1986, the worst ever performance then. Pakistan also won the Gold medal in Los Angeles Olympics, 1984. A gold medal in 1982 Asian Games and three editions of Asia Cup in 82, 85 & 89.

In Asian Games 1986 held in Korea, Pakistan Hockey team could win a Silver medal while Abdul Majeed won the Gold medal in Wrestling and Munir Sadiq won gold in Sailing.

1980s also saw emergence of Jahangir Khan, the greatest ever athlete produced by the country. 1981 – At age 17 became the youngest winner of the World Open, beating Australia's Geoff Hunt in final. He then won 6 World Open and 10 British Open titles.

From 1981 to 1986, Jahangir was unbeaten and during that time won 555 consecutive matches – the longest winning streak by any athlete in top-level

Another athlete who took the limelight in 80s was boxer Shah Hussain Shah who became Pakistan's first, and till date, only Boxer to win an Olympic medal after winning Bronze medal in 1988. He has also won several medals at South Asian and Asian level.

However, by the end of 80s, Pakistan's love started shifting towards Cricket, thanks to that final ball six by Javed Miandad off Chetan Sharma in Sharjah that won first ever cricket trophy for Pakistan. Pakistan also won Nehru Cup in India in 1989.

In the 1990s, Pakistan won four world titles - Cricket, Snooker, and Hockey. Like the 1960s, the 90s was also good for Pakistan Sports. However, towards end of the 90s, Pakistan started losing its glorious time and witnessed several controversies.

1992 was the last time when Pakistan was at the podium in Olympics, Pakistan Hockey team won a Bronze medal at Barcelona Olympics, since then Pakistanis are waiting for another medal in Olympics. 1994 Asian Games, 12th edtion, was the first when Pakistan couldn't win any Gold

However, in 1990 Pakistan's Ghulam Abbas and Abrar Hussain won Gold medals in Athletics and Boxing at the Asian Games, these two are among the brightest athletes produced by the country. Abrar was later killed in a terrorist attack in Quetta.

In 1996; Shabana Akhtar became Pakistan's first woman to compete at the Olympics when she took part in the women's long jump at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics

Also in the 90s, Jansher Khan had replaced Jahangir as the King of Squash courts and continued to raise Pakistan's flag high. Jansher collectively won 8 World Open and 6 Britsh open titles.

Shaukat Ali, another brilliant cueist to play for Pakistan, won the Asian Games Gold medal for Pakistan in Snooker in 1998.

2000s started with controversy for cricket fans, the Cronje scandal that shook the cricket world. There were calls to take strict action against corrupt cricketers. The PCB Chairman Tauqir Zia also released Qayyum report and imposed life bans on Salim Malik and Attaur Rehman

The year 2000 wasn't too great for Pakistan cricket on the field, as well. They lost England at Karachi, their first-ever defeat at NSK.
During the 2003 World Cup, Wasim Akram became the first man to take 500 ODI wickets, but Pakistan was knocked out early from the World Cup.

In 2006, during Oval Test b/w England & Pakistan, umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove ruled that the Pakistani team had been involved in tampering & awarded 5 penalty runs to England. Pak refused to take the field after tea break in protest & forfeited the match.

In 2007, Pakistan was knocked out from the Cricket World Cup after they were beaten by Ireland. After the defeat, Pakistan's head coach Bob Woolmer was found dead in his hotel room, following the incident Pakistan players were treated as suspects.

Also in 2007, Pakistan played the final of the first-ever T20 World Cup but lost to India in the final. Oh, that famous shot by Misbah.

While, in LO cricket, Pakistan wasn't having a good time, in red-ball cricket Pakistan's Mohammad Yousuf got his name entered in record books in 2006 when he scored 1788 in a calendar year, breaking Viv Richards record. It is still the record of most runs in a calendar year

After years of up and downs, controversies, scandals on the field, incidents of terrorism at home. The Cricket team provided the country something to cheer by winning the T20 World Cup in 2009.

In 2002 Asian Games, Mehrullah won the Gold medal in Asian Games. He was, then, considered as Pakistan's prospect for the Olympics. But, shamefully, he got himself banned after being tested positive for dope. What a waste of talent.

In 2004, Pakistan hosted SAF Games in Islamabad. Thousand of athletes from 8 countries came to Pakistan and participate in the event. India won the event with 203 Gold medals while Pakistan was second with 38 Gold medals.

Pakistan's Abdul Aziz scored a memorable goal against India in SAF Games 2004 to help Pakistan win the Gold medal. Certainly, one of the most memorable moments for Football fans in Pakistan. Pakistan Football team also won the Gold in 2006 SAF Games.

2000s also saw some exciting cricketing moments. India vs Pakistan cricket became a regular feature. Indian team toured Pakistan in 2004 and 2006 while Pakistan toured India in 2005 and 2007. India also toured Pakistan to play Asia Cup in 2008.

By 2010s, Pakistan Cricket was back in trouble, the country was forced to play its cricket away from home after an attack on Sri Lankan team in 2009. Pakistani players were caught in the spot-fixing scandal. But then, team fought back.

In 2016 - Pakistan became a top-ranked test team and Misbah was awarded the Test mace.
In 2017 - Younis Khan became the first Pakistani to enter the 10,000 Test runs club.
Also in 2017, Pakistan defeated India to win the Champions Trophy Cricket.

The only major title Hockey team won in 2010s was a Gold medal in Asian Games, four years later they won silver in South Korea. Pakistan hockey team also won a Silver in CT in Bhubaneswar, India, 2014. But sadly finished last in WC 2010 & 2018, failed to qualify for 2014

In the 2010s, the Pakistan Snooker team kept the country's flag high. Mohammad Asif won two IBSF World Championships, in 2012 and 2019. Pakistani cueists won Asian Championship, 6-reds, and other international events as well.

Inam Butt is one athlete who is certainly one of the best performers for Pakistan in the 2010s winning 10 Gold medals for the country including at World Beach Games and Commonwealth Games in 10 years.

In Dec 2019, Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem smashed South Asian Games record in the Javelin throw with a distance of 86.29 m, and secured direct qualification to Tokyo Olympics. He's the first Pakistani track and field athlete in years to confirm direct qualification to the Olympics.

In another first time for Pakistan, Lahore born Usman Khan qualified for equestrian events for Tokyo Olympics. He has named his horse Azad Kashmir

There are many more, there may be some names missing from the thread but tht doesn't mean their contributions are not valuable. Every single athlete who is representing Pakistan & bringing laurels to the country is important & respectable and we all are proud of our sportspersons