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
I enjoyed my 15 years at the top, and now I enjoy watching the current crop. What I did, maybe they can't do, and what they do, perhaps I couldn't do. It's like that. I wanted to simply be the best. On a professional level, I wanted to be No. 1, and I worked hard to be that.
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.
Everything is changing in squash. Lots of television coverage and the game has become very professional.
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.
When I play in a tournament, sometimes I'm feeling tired and don't want to play in the tournament. I don't want to lose.
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.
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.
Every winning streak will have to end sometime.
It's very difficult to do something without the support of the association. That was the reason why I did not get involved in coaching in Pakistan.
It wasn't my plan to create such a record. All I did was put in the effort to win every match I played and it went on for weeks, months and years until my defeat to Ross Norman in Toulouse in 1986.
Superior fitness is one of the reasons why I remained unbeaten for so long and it helped me to win six world titles and 10 British Open titles.