Mohammad Yusuf was a member of Afghanistan’s royal Durrani dynasty. His great-great-great-grandfather was Ahmad Shah Durrani, founder of the Durrani empire and, arguably, of the modern state of Afghanistan. Yusuf studied agriculture at Oxford and Cambridge prior to joining his country’s civil service, and was the head of the national Passport Department when he was selected to help represent his country at the 1936 Summer Olympic field hockey tournament. He had helped introduce the sport to his country a mere five years prior and the team placed a respectable joint fifth out of eleven squads, although Yusuf himself did not participate in any of the matches. Following the Olympics he spent the rest of his life in government service in various positions, including Minister for Agriculture and Minister for Sports. Throughout his life he held the title of Shazada, or “prince”.
Afghanistan