Roshan Khan is the third king of the Khan Dynasty who ruled the world of squash. Pakistan is the home country of many Squash greats, He was one of them.
He was born on 26th November, 1929 in Peshawar in British India. Distantly related to the founder Hashim Khan, Roshan reached the final of Pakistan Open in 1949 but was beaten by Hashim.
However from 1951 till 1953, the Pakistan Open title was his. In 1956, Roshan was the runner up to Hashim in the British Open Squash Championship. The following year Roshan avenged himself by defeating Hashim Khan in the final of 1957 British Open.
Roshan was again beaten in the final of the British Open in 1960 by Azam Khan a fellow Pakistani. Roshan Khan won the North American Open in 1958, 1960 and 1961. He was also the Canadian Open champion two times. Roshan was a great player of squash but his game was over shadowed by that of Hashim and Azam Khan, the pioneers of squash in Pakistan.
He coached his sons Torsam Khan and Jahangir Khan. Torsam was ranked 13 in the World Ranking died of a heart attack in 1979 while playing a tournament in Australia. Jahangir went on to become the greatest squash player the world had ever seen.
Jahangir Khan considered quitting the game after Torsam’s death but he decided to honour him by continuing to play. He captured ten British Open titles, six World Open titles and he was unbeaten for five years over the stretch of over 500 matches.
He was awarded with the Pride of Performance Award by the President of Pakistan for his services in 1960. Roshan Khan died on 6th January, 2006 in Karachi at the age of 78.
