Jansher Khan is a former squash player from Pakistan who has dominated the squash scene for many years. The former world number 1 was born in Noakili a town near Peshawar on 15th June, 1969.
Jansher Khan is regarded as the greatest squash player of all time. His brother Mohibullah Khan (also ranked World Number 2) and Atlas Khan were also great squash players.
When Jansher entered the squash arena, another Pakistani player Jehangir Khan was the World Number 1 player who totally dominated the squash scene. The five and a half years long reign of Jehangir Khan ended when Ross Norman of New Zealand defeated him in the World Open Championship in 1986.
With Jehangir’s defeat, people thought that Pakistan had lost its supremacy over squash but Jansher was quick to restore the honor when he beat Australian Chris Dittmar in 1987 to win the coveted World Championship title for the first time.
Jansher had earlier defeated Jehangir in the semifinals. From then onwards all the major squash championship titles yo-yoed between Jehangir and Jansher. They played a number of matches and out of the 37 big events; Jansher won 19 whereas Jehangir was victorious 18 times.
Jansher has 8 World Championships, 6 British Open, 6 Hong Kong Open and 10 Pakistan Open titles to his credit. During his time, Jansher played against some of the big names of the squash world and was victorious most of the time.
Jansher’s personal life was marred by many controversies but his dedication, devotion and professionalism towards squash remains unmatched.
The winner of 99 international titles and the six times world number 1 announced his retirement from Squash in 2001. He won the World Open eight times and the British Open six times. He was known as the player of the millennium.
