Jahangir Khan
Jahangir Khan
Jahangir Khan, HI,born 10 December 1963 in Karachi, Pakistanis a former World No. 1 professional squash player from Pakistan, who is considered to be the greatest player in the history of squash. Jahangir Khan is originally from Neway Kelay Payan, Peshawar. During his career he won the World Open six times and the British Open a record ten times. From 1981 to 1986, he was unbeaten in competitive play. During that time he won 555 matches consecutively, the longest winning...
NationalityPakistani
ProfessionAthlete
Date of Birth10 December 1963
CountryPakistan
Everything is changing in squash. Lots of television coverage and the game has become very professional.
Pakistan is rich in sporting talent, but the only thing needed is to have sincere and honest administrators who should be held accountable by the government. Pakistan should be recognised as a sporting nation and not as a terrorist country.
Squash was my livelihood and as in business, I had to stay on top.
That was one of my bad days and that was the day Ross chose to play his best. It was a little disappointing, but I got over it eventually.
I was very keen on squash. My father used to go to sleep in the afternoon. Normally, in Pakistan, everybody goes to sleep in the afternoon, because it's really hot. I'd go and play without telling anybody.
We shouldn't be thinking about individuals or departments. We should be thinking about national interest. Lifting the standard of Pakistan squash is like working towards national interest.
There is a tremendous amount of pressure when you are a world No. 1 with everyone behind you trying to knock you down. But I always believe you should be enjoying the pressure at the top. It is a case of being able to relax and keep playing the game that got you there in the first place.
You hire a chief executive, pay him, and hold him accountable after a year or two. The time for so-called honorary jobs is over. What Pakistan squash needs is results, and that can only be achieved by professionals.
My unbeaten record and the 10 British Open wins have not been equalled.
Nicol has great potential and there is a huge gap between her and the rest of the juniors. She needs to concentrate full time on the professional circuit from now on and it is the only way for her to realize her potential.
Let's face it. There is no setup in Pakistan to train and groom young players at the grassroots level in different sports. Those of us who did make a name for ourselves and became champions did it with our own initiative - there was no academy to back us till we reached a certain level on our own.
Fitness of a top-class squash player is very important, and talent only can't do the job. They have to get training regularly for at least eight hours a day so that they could put some good show in a two-hour match.
During my time, squash was not even part of Asian or Commonwealth Games. Considering the dominance of Jansher Khan and I in the '80s and '90s, it goes without saying that Pakistan would have bagged a plethora of medals through us at these games. And yes, the ultimate prize would have been an Olympic gold.
A player cannot become a world champion overnight. To become a champion, a player has to sacrifice a lot and to devote much of his time practising and training.