Childhood Heroes of My Generation

Childhood Heroes of My Generation

1. Jahangir Khan

Squash is not our national sport, but Pakistan was once identified by this game all over the world. We have ruled the globe since the 1950s, beginning with the success of Hashim Khan to Jansher Khan in the 1990s.

The period from 1981 to 1996 was the era of unparalleled Pakistani supremacy, in which Jahangir Khan and Jansher Khan ruled the world of squash and won almost every title. No one even came close to dethroning them. When I was growing up, Jahangir Khan was the man I adored the most because he made my country proud.

Jahangir Khan was born in Karachi in 1963, though his father, Roshan Khan, a 1957 British Open champion, belonged to Nawan Kili (or Nawakille), Peshawar. In his early days, he was so lean and physically prone to illness that doctors advised his father not to let him play.

At the tender age of 15, he won the World Amateur Tournament after being ignored for the World Championship as the selectors deemed him physically too frail to play at the highest level.

The death of his elder brother, Torsam Khan, a renowned squash player, broke his ambitions to play, but later, motivated by his father, he decided to make a name for himself in the game as a tribute to him.

Australia's Geoff Hunt was the champion player at that time. Jahangir Khan stunned the world by beating him at the 1981 World Open to become its youngest ever champion.

Jonah Barrington, a squash legend, had predicted that Jahangir would win the World Open by the age of 21. So he was only partially right, as Jahangir defeated his prophecy by four years. Quite remarkably, he had improved his world ranking from 26 to number 1 in just over a year and a half at the tender age of 17.

Under the coaching of Rehmat Khan, his lean body was turned into a steel frame with immense bodily stamina and mental toughness that were unmatched in that era.

With this win, an unprecedented epoch of dominance began for Jahangir, in which he remained unbeaten for five years and eight months, winning 555 matches in a row.

Ross Norman ended that era in the 1986 World Open final. He had waited for five long years in the hope that Jahangir would be below par one day.

Jahangir also participated in the hardball version of the game played in North American continent. He shone there as well, so much so that the hardball game eventually died, being replaced by the original softball version.

Then the world saw one of the greatest rivalries of the game. Another squash wonder boy emerged from the same village, Nawan Kili, and challenged Jahangir’s dominance. Jansher Khan initially was beaten by the original Khan, but in 1987, he defeated him nine times in a row, including the World Open.

Both players then shared the world titles between them until the end of the decade. Jahangir Khan won the World Open six times and the most coveted British Open, a record uninterrupted 10 times from 1982 to 1991.

All this was achieved through sheer hard work and determination. After waking up at five, he toiled at the gym, then used to run miles and then train in the court for hours. 

His technique was to sap his rivals mentally and physically with a clever waiting game using long rallies, and then either a cross-court thump or a deadly drop shot from deep in the court deceived his opponents all ends up. No wonder he was Muhammad Ali of the ball game.

Win or lose, he remained a humble gentleman throughout his career. As a result, he had more allies than haters.

He retired after winning the World Team Championship in Karachi for Pakistan in 1993. 

After quitting the game, he served as elected chairman of the Professional Squash Association and later as vice president of the Pakistan Squash Federation. He was twice elected president of the World Squash Federation, in 2002 and 2004.

He was given several awards by the Pakistani government, including Pride of Performance, Hilal-e-Imtiaz, and the title of Sportsman of the Millennium. Jahangir Khan was named by Time Magazine as one of Asia's heroes in the last 60 years. A sports and youth award was granted to him by France in 1990. 

He is also in the Guinness Book of World Records for his amazing record of successive wins. He was conferred an honorary PhD from the London Metropolitan University in 2007. 

He was awarded the "lifetime achievement award” as well as the “hall of fame” by the World Squash Federation in 1993.

The great Khan was also voted the greatest ever male player by the World Squash Federation in 2002 through a poll. He is called, and rightly so, the king of squash.

Nicknamed ‘The Conqueror,” he truly is a reflection of his name, Jahangir, which means master of the world. 

I personally met him at the 17th World Open, which was held in my hometown of Wah Cantt in 1993, and found him to be a very nice and down-to-earth man. I proudly hold his autograph in my collection.

Jahangir Khan is truly a living legend, a true Pashtun, a real patriot, and a role model for every sportsman in the world. He showed us how we can achieve success through sheer hard work if we are sincere and passionate about our goal. In my opinion, he is the best-ever athlete born in Asia.

Long live Jahangir Khan!