Pakistan’s squash celebrity and former world champion Jansher Khan announced he is retiring yesterday to devote himself to preaching Islam. “I achieved what few people have achieved at the international level and I enjoyed my career to the hilt,” said Khan.
The 33-year-old Khan won over 100 international titles including a record eight world opens, six British Opens and nine Hong Kong Open crowns.
The Peshawar-born Khan was number one in the world rankings for a record 10 years from 1987 to 1997. “I now want to spend most of my time preaching Islam throughout the world,” Khan said.
Often criticised back home for his short temper, Khan broke into international squash when he took the world junior title in Brisbane, Australia in 1986.
He won the last of his world titles in Karachi in 1996 before suffering a serious knee injury. Khan’s last competitive match was a first round loss against Canadian Jonathan Power in the Dutch open in 1998. “I will play exhibition matches and hold coaching clinics but have not made up my mind about full-time coaching,” he said.
Jansher short tempered and pompuous...so unlike the extremely popular Jahangir Khan...who is known for humility inspite of his unmatchable achievements. Jansher could never command such respect as Jahangir, even when at the peak of his career. No wonder, not many people bother abt him.
I met Jahangir some years ago when he was in Vienna for a very funny exhibition match. His opponent on the squash court was Thomas Muster, Austria’s top tennis player at that time. Jahangir just placed himself in the middle of the court sending Thomas Muster from one corner to the other. That guy really needed some fresh air after that.
Jansher was a huge asset to Pakistan and to squash. It is not fair to write him off as a lesser player than Jehangir Khan. Both are great in their own ways.
Jansher took the charge of Pakistani Squash and the canraderie as well as the rivalry betwene him and Jahangir was interesting to watch and it made him strive even harder.
I just hope that we start paying more attention to our other sports and atheletes or our sports will be a one trick pony..
Jansher was a great player no doubt....but his attitude wasnt always that of a professional...which is why he is not remembered or followed the way Jahangir still is. I remember Jansher skipping Pakistan Open in favor of another no name tournament just for the extra dollars.
Sportmanship and professionalism play a huge part in determining how a player will be remembered once he retires. Jansher had the game...but Jahangir was in a class of his own in every way.
One stark difference...Jansher hasnt nurtured his understudies as well as did Jahangir, which is why we dont even have a top 10 player anymore.
And he says he will now "preach Islam throughout the world".It would have been much better for Pakistan and sports if he had used his talents to coach and nurture other budding players.
Jansher Khan and Jehangir Khan in Squahs are like Mark Williams and Stephen Hendry. No matter how good Mark and Jansher are but yet they won't get the same respect in my eyes as much as Jehangir Khan and Stephen Hendry have got.
As far as preaching Islam is concerned, we Pakistanis are quite used to of it so I am for some reason quite sceptical about it. Sorry but it's me. I guess Imran Khan's story is not very old changing Jemima Khan and talking about Islam. I feel that Jansher Khan has got some political motives, IMHO.
Would he need to go to no name tournaments if he got the type of exposure our cricket players get. Financial pressures are real and glory in championships does not necessarily put food on the table.
He has not nurtured understudies, but that has little to do with his ability as a player.
A lot depends on squash authorities in Pakistan. Give him the facilities, make it worth his while to coach, allow him access to talented, disciplined youngsters, make sure he can make a decent living doing so and for crying out loud..dont knock all his accomplishments just because you do not like his attitude.
Chilli I agree that he could use his talents and pass his knowledge to a new generation, but as you are well aware, we need to have positive examples of muslims talking about Islam to youngsters as well. if people like him or professionals or other accomplished people dont do it sadly the task is left to some mullahs who are not quite up to task.
glory in championships does not necessarily put food on the table.
We are talking about a player who made millions, not thousands....and in pounds and dollars, not rupees. Even Pakistan Open pays in dollars. It sounds funny talking about a player needed a big tournament in order to 'put food on the table'. Like Mike tyson once said after he got restored from his ban, just before a $30 million pay day "I gotta feed my kids too."
There is no doubting his abilities as a squash player...no way. He wasnt # 1 for 10 years for nothing.
That said, I guess its a personal choice as to what factors we take into consideration when associating ourselves as a 'fan' to a player. I believe nationalism, professionalism and humility play a huge part apart from the talent.
Jansher has made loads of money, not just out of Pakistan, but in Pakistan as well. He was given a chance to be a part of the coaching hierarchy, but he showed his partiality there as well by forcing his nephew Amjad Khan into national squads, when there were plenty of other clearly better players waiting in the wings. And when eventually Amjad Khan was left out of pak squads based on merit, Jansher ended up boycotting PSF. Thats petty.
Anyway.....hes a great player of the game, no doubt.
[This message has been edited by Akif (edited June 20, 2001).]
Exactly, so lets give him respect for his skill as a player and for what he did for squash and what he did for the country. maybe he did not do much as a coach, a role model etc etc. But he did well as a player and to me that counts..that is what he wanted to be..a player. be a coach, be a role model be a mentor..those are our expectations, our hopes as countrymen and sports fans. he does not have to bow to our expectations, or whims.
So lets not guage him by our own standards other than what his core service is..and thats squash..and that guy was amazing in the courts. His departure is a loss for squash and his contributions important.
btw jahangir khan made better parathas than jansher
hehe..I get the picture…but parathas arent related to squash the way coaching/role modelling is, is it? I mean, Mike Tyson was a great boxer…and Mike Jordan was a great basketball player. Why dont we hear any ‘I wanna be like Mike(Tyson)’ chants compared to ‘I wanna be like Mike(Jordan)’.
A game is a game only as long as it is played for the love of it. But when you make it your profession, you automatically attach a lot of other requirements and responsibilities as well. Jansher’s on-court and off-court actions were more often than not monetarily motivated, and that was well known to all us fans of his. But everyone reaches a stage where they tend to disregard the ‘talent’ and concentrate on the accompanying issues. They arent called ambassadors of the sport for nothing.
The talent dies out at 35, 36, 39 or 40 yrs. But the nationalism part stays there till u die…or even after u die. So it does matter a lot to fans. See how Sampras was chastised when he refused to represent the US in the Davis Cup in favor of other tournaments?
When the issue is a direct result of the sport a person is playing, then it matters.
What Jansher Khan has done for Pakiatan in sports not many have done and not many would do. He deserves appluad for wat he has done and does not deserve criticism. The attitude of a player is something personal not all people are born with same kind of attitude. So rrespect the people that deserce respect for wat they have done better than u and ignore their mistakes as we all make them.
Jansher was a great assit and its a pity we lost him early due to injury. RTo say he didn’t nurture talent as well as Jhangir Khan is wrong bec after Jhangir we only had one good player and that was Jansher and i don’t think Jhangir had a hand in his success. It was the responsibility of Squash federation to nurture talent and not these legends who were one of there kind and we will be extremely lucky to have anyone even close to them in future.
Thank you Janshir for doing us proud.
There is no doubt that Jansher was an awesome player but i think he just got carried away with all the glamour and fame and lost his respect... pretty close to what has been happening with shoaib akhtar in cricket. Those who remember Jansher's scandals with the Malayasian girl (whose daughter he fathered) would agree with me.
Two minds are better than one... specially if both of them are mine!!!
Above links provide good source of information on head-to-head battles between Jansher and Jahangir.
I have been fortunate enough to watch both Jahangir and Jansher play. It is difficult to pick one out of these two, and say he is the greatest of all time.
It is quite interesting to compare the styles of these two players. Jahangir would (on many occasions) play a fast and furious game with panchant for inventive/aggresive strokes, and where needed play a long game (tiring his opponents). Whereas, Jansher would play an up-and-doen game, with the ball hugging the side walls with the greatest of accuracy. You might even say Jansher ‘bores’ his opponenets to defeat
However, the poetic grace with which Jansher moved around the court was just amazing. Every great squash player has said, Jansher makes the game of squash look too easy with his graceful movement and the ease with which he covers every corner of the court.
I don’t care what Janhangir or Jasher did off court. But when playing the game of squash, none were better than these two.
