KARACHI (Reuters) - Pakistan’s former world champion Jansher Khan is coming out of retirement to play in a Professional Squash Association tournament in October.
The 38-year-old retired in 2002 due to a nagging knee problem after winning 99 professional titles, including the British Open six times and the World Open a record eight times.
Khan said he had been assured a wild card entry by the organisers of the PSA tournament, which is being held in London from Oct 11.
“The reason for my comeback is that I feel I am mentally and physically fit to play the international circuit for another three to four years,” he said at a news conference on Thursday.
Jansher and countryman Jahangir Khan dominated the world squash circuit for nearly two decades, winning a total of 16 British Open and 14 World titles between them.
Correction:Jahangir Khan is widely regarded as the greatest squash player of all time. He went 555 games undefeated between 1981-1986 (when he lost narrowly against Ross Norman of New Zealand) which is the longest unbeaten run by any athlete in top-level professional sport. Jahangir Khan - Wikipedia](Jahangir Khan - Wikipedia)
British Open (regarded as the greatest Squash tournament, cf. Wimbledon in tennis) - Jahangir Khan 10 straight wins, a record - Jansher Khan 6 wins
World Open - Jansher Khan a record 8 wins - Jahangir Khan 6 wins
^ Bhaijan, I said 'arguably'. People can argue who was the greatest :)
They are both legends, but in my humble opinion Jansher was slightly better as a player albeit his record may differ from Jahangir. Also, the depth of competition Jansher faced at his peak was somewhat better than Jahangir :).