Squash superstar

Hashim Khan

 

A small, polite, balding man who became an indomitable athlete with a racquet in his hand, Hashim Khan won 7 British Open squash titles and was the patriarch of a family dynasty that dominated the sport for decades.

Khan overcame the disadvantages of an impoverished background in a remote part of what was then colonial India to achieve international success in an elitist sport at an age when most players would be contemplating retirement. In doing so, he became a national icon and an inspiration for future generations of Pakistani squash players, more than a few related to him.

Hashim Khan was born in the small town of Nawakille, near Peshawar, which at the time was part of India. His father, Abdullah, was a steward at a club built for officers guarding the Khyber Pass. After his father died, the 11-year old Khan left school and worked as a ball-boy to earn money for the family, being paid a pittance for collecting squash balls that had sailed out of the outdoor courts.

When it was too hot for the officers to play, Khan found an empty court and taught himself squash using a broken racquet and a damaged ball. One story has it that some officers drunkenly walked past the courts one evening and saw the barefoot youngster hit backhand after backhand impeccably despite pitch-dark conditions.

He progressed to become a coach at the club but remained a virtual unknown during his twenties. His big break came when Abdul Bari, a visiting professional from Bombay, turned up looking for a game and the thirtysomething Khan beat him even after giving him a 50-point head start.

Bari spread the word about Khan and he was invited to take part in the All-of-India tournament in Bombay in 1944. He won that competition 3 times in a row, but was no longer eligible after India won independence from Great Britain in 1947, which led to the foundation of Pakistan. Khan returned to the Royal Air Force club. 4 years later, seeking to burnish the young nation’s pride and international renown through sporting success, the Pakistani government selected him to represent the country at the British Open in London, which was then considered to be the sport’s world championships.

Wearing shoes on court for the first time, the 5ft 5in Khan was an underdog in the final, where he faced an Egyptian who had won the title in each of the past 4 years, Mahmoud el Karim. Yet Khan won easily, 9-5,9-0,9-0, benefiting from the stamina which he had built up during years of playing for hours in the blazing sun. He went on to win the next 5 British Opens. He finished runner-up in 1957 but reclaimed the crown the following year, when he was in his mid-forties. He also won 3 United States and 3 Canadian Open titles.

Khan’s improbable brilliance was eulogized in a New Yorker article in 1973: ‘To an American, he looked nothing at all like an athlete, let alone a super-athlete. A round-headed, baldish man with a high-bridged nose and dark, serious eyes, he was squat in build,’ the writer recalled. ‘Particularly since he was barrel-chested and had the suspicion of a pot-belly, he seemed curiously top-heavy. When he moved, though, the whole picture changed. It was not that he was exceptionally graceful or smooth but that he was beautifully co-ordinated. His strokes were sound, his reflexes were quick, he was indecently fast of foot, and no amount of exertion seemed to bring a bead of sweat to his brow.’

In one of his favourite training exercises, Khan would stand a racquet upside down against the wall at the corner of the court and hit the ball from long-range into the tiny gap between the racquet’s handle and the edge of the side wall. He was known for his idiosyncratic command of English, in which his sentences often missed out words. A 2009 documentary about him alluded to that trait in its title, which was one of his mantras: Keep eye on ball.

Khan moved to the US in the 1960s when he was offered a coaching position in Detroit. He later settled in the Denver suburb of Aurora, where he died of congestive heart failure. Hi precise age is uncertain: his relatives told the AP news agency that he had never had a birth certificate, but they celebrated his birthday on July 1^st. Their best guess was that he was born  in 1914, though some reports suggest 1910.

He competed in the British Open over-60s championship in 2001 when in his mid-eighties. In an exhibition match in 1983, when in his mid-sixties, he beat the best female player in America, Alicia McConnell, who was 19. Even after suffering a broken hip late in life he played squash into his early 90s. Khan raised 12 children with his wife of 65 years, Mehria, who died in 2007. All 7 sons became squash players, most notably Sharif, who won the North American Open 12 times. The ‘Khan Dynasty’ has claimed 23 British Open titles. Khan taught his younger brother, Azam, to play squash. Hashim beat him in 3 finals before Azam won 4 consecutive Opens 1959-62. Hashim’s cousin, Roshan, and nephew,  Mohibullah, each won once and a cousin’s son, Jahangir, took 10 titles between 1982 & 1991. Jansher, another Khan from Peshawar, though no relation, dominated squash in the 1990s.

‘Barely 3 years after Pakistan’s independence in 1947, he became our first-ever sporting hero in 1951 and whatever tribute we can pay will not match his great contribution in inspiring a whole generation,’ Jahangir said.