Hashim Khan is a former squash

Squash (sport)

Squash is a high-speed racquet sport played by two players in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball...

 player from Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

. He won the British Open

British Open Squash Championships

The British Open Squash Championships is the oldest and most established tournament in the game of squash. It is widely considered to be one of the two most prestigious tournaments in the game, alongside the World Open The British...

 seven times between 1951 and 1958.

Hashim Khan was born in Nawakille (sometimes spelled "Noakili"), a small village near Peshawar

Peshawar

Peshawar is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administrative center and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan....

, in British India to an ethnic Pashtun

Pashtun people

Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...

 family. The year of his birth is usually reported as 1916, though this has been disputed. Khan's father, Abdullah Khan, was the Head Steward at club in Peshwar where British army officers stationed in the area played squash. As a youngster, Khan served as an unpaid ball boy

Ball Boy

Ball Boy is a comic strip in the UK comic The Beano and also the name of the main character. It first appeared in issue 1735, dated 18 October 1975. It features a five-a-side football team that includes:* Ball Boy - the captain of the team, Ball Boy bears resemblances to The Dandy's Owen Goal...

 at the club, retrieving balls that were hit out of court by the officers. When the officers had finished playing, Khan and the other ball boys would take over the courts.

In 1942, Khan became a squash coach at a British Air Force officers' mess. In 1944, he won the first All-of-India squash championship in Bombay, and successfully defended this title for the next two years. When Pakistan became an independent state, he was appointed a squash professional at the Pakistan Air Force

Pakistan Air Force

The Pakistan Air Force is the leading air arm of the Pakistan Armed Forces and is primarily tasked with the aerial defence of Pakistan with a secondary role of providing air support to the Pakistan Army and the Pakistan Navy. The PAF also has a tertiary role of providing strategic air transport...

, and won the first Pakistani squash championship in 1949.

In 1950, Abdul Bari, a distant relative of Khan's who had chosen to remain in Bombay after the partition of India and Pakistan, and who Hashim had beaten in several tournaments in India before partition, was sponsored by the Indian Government to play at the British Open where he finished runner-up to the Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

ian player Mahmoud Karim

Mahmoud Karim

Mahmoud el Karim was a squash player from Egypt. He won the British Open men's title four consecutive times from 1947-1950.-Playing career:...

. This spurred Khan to seek backing to compete in the British Open the following year.

In 1951, Khan travelled to the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 to play in the British Open, and won the title beating Karim in the final 9-5, 9-0, 9-0. He again beat Karim in the final in 1952 9-5, 9-7, 9-0. He won again for the next four consecutive years, beating R.B.R. Wilson of England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 in the 1953 final; his younger brother Azam Khan

Azam Khan (squash player)

Azam Khan is a former squash player from Pakistan who won the British Open four times between 1959 and 1962.Azam was introduced to squash by his older brother, Hashim Khan, who was also one of the world's top squash players in his time. After winning the British Open in 1951, Hashim recruited Azam...

 in two tight five-set finals in 1954 and 1955; and Roshan Khan

Roshan Khan

Roshan Khan was a squash player from Pakistan. He was one of the leading players in the game in the 1950s and early-1960s, and won the British Open title in 1957...

 in the final of 1956. Hashim Khan was runner-up to Roshan Khan in 1957, and won his seventh and final British Open title in 1958, when he beat Azam in the final.

Hashim Khan also won five British Professional Championship titles, three US Open

United States Open (squash)

The United States Open squash championships is an annual squash tournament sponsored by U.S. Squash. The championship was inaugurated in 1954 as an opportunity for professionals and amateurs to compete against each other...

 titles, and three Canadian Open titles.

Khan settled in Denver, Colorado

Denver, Colorado

The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...

, and has continued to appear in veterans' matches at the British Open. The Denver Athletic Club continues to hold a Hashim Khan squash tournament in his honor every year.

Khan had a total of 12 children. His eldest son Sharif Khan

Sharif Khan

Sharif Khan is a retired professional squash player. He is widely considered to be one of the all-time great players of hardball squash . He was the dominant player on the hardball squash circuit throughout the 1970s...

 became a player on the North American hardball squash

Hardball squash

Hardball squash is a format of the indoor racquet sport squash which was first developed in North America in the late 19h century and early 20th century. It is sometimes referred to as being the "American version" of the sport...

 circuit in the 1970s, winning a record 12 North American Open

United States Open (squash)

The United States Open squash championships is an annual squash tournament sponsored by U.S. Squash. The championship was inaugurated in 1954 as an opportunity for professionals and amateurs to compete against each other...

 titles. Four other sons – Aziz, Gulmast, Liaqat Ali ("Charlie"), and Salim ("Sam") – also became hardball squash players.

British Open final appearances

Wins (7)
Year	Opponent in final	Score in final
1951	Mahmoud Karim Mahmoud Karim Mahmoud el Karim was a squash player from Egypt. He won the British Open men's title four consecutive times from 1947-1950.-Playing career:...	9-5, 9-0, 9-0
1952	Mahmoud Karim Mahmoud Karim Mahmoud el Karim was a squash player from Egypt. He won the British Open men's title four consecutive times from 1947-1950.-Playing career:...	9-5, 9-7, 9-0
1953	R.B.R. Wilson	9-2, 8-10, 9-1, 9-0
1954	Azam Khan Azam Khan (squash player) Azam Khan is a former squash player from Pakistan who won the British Open four times between 1959 and 1962.Azam was introduced to squash by his older brother, Hashim Khan, who was also one of the world's top squash players in his time. After winning the British Open in 1951, Hashim recruited Azam...	6-9, 9-6, 9-6, 7-9, 9-5
1955	Azam Khan Azam Khan (squash player) Azam Khan is a former squash player from Pakistan who won the British Open four times between 1959 and 1962.Azam was introduced to squash by his older brother, Hashim Khan, who was also one of the world's top squash players in his time. After winning the British Open in 1951, Hashim recruited Azam...	9-7, 7-9, 9-7, 5-9, 9-7
1956	Roshan Khan Roshan Khan Roshan Khan was a squash player from Pakistan. He was one of the leading players in the game in the 1950s and early-1960s, and won the British Open title in 1957...	9-4, 9-2, 5-9, 9-5
1958	Azam Khan Azam Khan (squash player) Azam Khan is a former squash player from Pakistan who won the British Open four times between 1959 and 1962.Azam was introduced to squash by his older brother, Hashim Khan, who was also one of the world's top squash players in his time. After winning the British Open in 1951, Hashim recruited Azam...	9-7, 6-9, 9-6, 9-7
Runner-ups (1)
Year	Opponent in final	Score in final
1957	Roshan Khan Roshan Khan Roshan Khan was a squash player from Pakistan. He was one of the leading players in the game in the 1950s and early-1960s, and won the British Open title in 1957...	6-9, 9-5, 9-2, 9-1

Books

• Khan, Hashim, Squash racquets: the Khan game, Wayne State University Press, 1967.
• Khan, Hashim, Keep eye on ball, is most important one thing I tell you, New York : Simon & Schuster, 1996. ISBN 0684813246

External links