Jansher Khan

Jansher Khan (born 15 June 1969, in Peshawar, Pakistan) is a former World No. 1 professional squash player from Pakistan, who is widely considered to be one of the greatest squash players of all time. During his career he won the World Open a record eight times, and the British Open six times.

Jansher came from a family of outstanding squash players. His brother Mohibullah Khan was one of the world's leading professional squash players in the 1970s. Another older brother, Atlas Khan, was a highly-rated amateur competitor.

Jansher won the World Junior Squash Championship title in 1986. He also turned professional that year. At the time, the men's professional tour was dominated by another Pakistani player – Jahangir Khan. (Jansher is not known to be directly related to Jahangir, but their families originate from the same village in the Peshawar region of northern Pakistan, so they may be distantly related). At the World Open in 1986, Ross Norman finally ended an unbeaten run by Jahangir in tournament play which had lasted a staggering five and a half years. But from 1987 onwards, Jahangir would no longer be able to tower over the game in the way he did during the first half of the decade, as Jansher quickly turned men's squash into a sport which now had two powerful dominant players. Jahangir won the pair's first few encounters in late-1986 and early-1987. Jansher then scored his first win over Jahangir in September 1987, beating him in straight games in the semi-finals of the Hong Kong Open. Jansher then went on to beat Jahangir in their next eight consecutive encounters. This included a win in the semi-finals of the 1987 World Open, following which Jansher claimed his first World Open title by beating Australia's Chris Dittmar in the final.

Jahangir came back strongly in 1988. In March that year he claimed his first win over Jansher since the previous September, and then went on to win 11 of their next 15 encounters, including a win in the 1988 World Open final.

The Jansher-Jahangir rivalry would dominate squash in the late-1980s through to the early-1990s. The pair met total of 37 times in tournament play. Jansher won 19 matches (74 games and 1,426 points), and Jahangir 18 matches (79 games and 1,459 points). This record doesn't include exhibition matches and league matches between them.

With Jahangir reaching the twilight of his career and then retiring, Jansher came to establish himself as the sole dominant player in the game in the mid-1990s. He won a record total of eight World Open titles, the last being in 1996. He chose not to defend his World Open title in 1997 because the event was held in Malaysia, and he had a pending court order in Malaysia relating to maintenance payments for his son, Kamran Khan, following his separation from his Malaysian wife. Jahangir maintained a stranglehold on the British Open up to 1991 (he won the championship 10 consecutive times), but when he finally relinquished the title it was Jansher who claimed it for the next six successive years.

Jansher officially announced his retirement from squash in 2001. He won a total of 99 professional titles and was ranked the World No. 1 for over six years.

In July 2006, Jansher was in the international headlines again when he was arrested in Pakistan for allegedly forcefully occupying a house over an ownership dispute, and harassing a woman and her family and threatening them with an illegal firearm. [ [http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=20369 Jansher faces death penalty] , "The International News" (Pakistan), 19 August 2006] [ [http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/06/08/27/10062985.html Squash legend could face death sentence] , gulfnews.com, 27 August 2006]

In August 2007, Jansher he announced that he is coming out of retirement to play in a Professional Squash Association tournament in London in October 2007. He said in a news conference that the reason for his comeback is that "I feel I am mentally and physically fit to play the international circuit for another three to four years". [ [http://in.reuters.com/article/sportsNews/idINIndia-29240820070830 Pakistan's Jansher to return after five-year absence] , Reuters India, 30 August 2007] He lost in the opening round of the event to England's Scott Handley 11-9, 6-11, 6-11 0-11. [ [http://www.squashtalk.com/html2/news07/oct/news07-10-30a.htm Handley gives Jansher a reality check] , "SquashTalk", 11 October 2007] After the tournament in London, Jansher was involved in a controversial incident when he was caught by customs officers at Islamabad Airport attempting to illegally bring 19 bottles of liquor into Pakistan on his return from the event. [ [http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IES20071024043355&Page=S&Headline=Jansher+caught+with+19+bottles+of+liquor&Title=&Topic=0& Jansher caught with 19 bottles of liquor] , newindpress.com, 24 October 2007]

World Open final appearances

British Open final appearances

References

External links

* [http://www.squashtalk.com/profiles/jansher1.htm Career summary at squashtalk.com]
* [http://www.psa-squash.com/entry/ranking.php?player=T00039 Profile at psa-squash.com]
* [http://www.squashpics.com/pastplayers/jansher_khan.htm Page at squashpics.com]
* [http://www.the-south-asian.com/Nov2001/Pakistan%20squash%208.htm Pakistan Squash - The Khan Supremacy Part VIII]