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S4HU JUST VOTED FOR SQUASH. DID YOU??
Squash scores are down after the initial success. Ladies & Gentlemen where ever you are and what ever you do please ensure that you do some serious networking and give your sport some of the lost glory. To see where we stand after five days voting please click on the following link…. LIVE POLL RESULTS
I do think if the game ever needed out support – it is NOW. Let us show Rugby Seven and Golf what our game is made off.
Show time guys please get into Voting Mode AGAIN click ON “KEEP VOTING 4 SQUASH” TO CAST YOUR ON-LINE VOTE below…………
My Date with Qamar Zaman
When I started to play the game in early 80’s he was already a legend – someone whose exploits reached our attention only through Sports Magazines occasionally covered the game 18-20 years ago and the newspaper never had Squash on their agenda.
He was known as the “Magician” – with amazing rackets skills. Born in Quetta in the year 1952, to Mohammed Ayub in Balochistan in the North West Frontier Province. He like his predecessor and successors from the region played some of the best Squash that the world has seen for many years.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I am talking about another Khan Icon – someone who changed the way squash was played and someone who got Zaman imprinted between the Legendary Khans in Squash’s International Hall of Fame
“Making A Point”
I was visiting our own Indian Squash Academy in Chennai – where I had been invited to refer matches at the recently concluded World Junior’s Boys and Girls. Accompanying the Pakistan Junior Contingent as their Coach cum Manager – Qamar Zaman.
A tight match schedule kept me away for him, and his likes – Rahmat Khan, Anthony Rickets, and Sara Fitzgerald among others. It was only after individual events got over and I saw him sitting alone for Breakfast one morning at Hotel Abu Palace – the place where I was staying as well.
With the number of matches reduced – and reporting deferred until after lunch I realized that this would be my day. I picked up my fruit bowl and excused myself next to him. During the course of the next couple of hours we discussed many things including Squash Then & Now and about this trip to India.
I was not taking his interview but was only there trying to bathe in the some of the Sun Shine of his illustrious career. Some of the topics that were discussed have been classified below;
- I remember started by asking him about the Sorry State of the sport in Pakistan – A country which still holds the record of producing maximum number of World Champions. Sheer “LACK OF COMMITTMENT & DISCIPLINE” was all he said.
- Elaborating this he started discussing his own son Mansoor Zaman who is presently playing the PSA and represents Pakistan. According to Qamar – he has never understood how his son could practice keeping an eye on his watch. ”I was luck” he said, “because watches were not in vogue during my days”. Besides my father had to feed many children and never had extra money to permit such luxuries.
On his own style of play. His superior stroking ability left players from across the world bewildered. “Firstly they could not pick up my shots he said and rarely when someone did manage to do so – they would end up hitting the ball always back to me enabling me finish the point.
“The Wizard of Quetta at Work”
Secret of the Zaman Magic
On how he managed to do bewilder opponents – he just shared the following:-
- He said he would be on the court for hours and hours just trying to rediscover him, the racket, squash ball, and the court. People who saw him as a kid practicing alone in the court called him CRAZY.
- It was here that he discussed the “broken ball”. According to him since his father had many mouths to feed in the family – Squash Balls were not easy to buy.
- Qamar Zaman said if there was ever a secret to his game, it was his playing with a taped broken ball – since his father could not afford a new one. My eyes glittered for a moment – as even I remembered doing the same as squash balls were not easy on my pocket money when I played the game as a kid.
- It was this altered ball conditioned that enabled him to hone racket skills – that the world has not been able to see again.
- When his problem turned into an opportunity even he did not realize then. But in the process he mastered the drop shot to perfection.
- His hunger for the game kept him on the court irrespective of the problems he would have faced. And Qamar said he would sit on the floor next to the TIN and with a ball in his hands run it along the height of the TIN – as if memorizing its height.
“The Master in Action”
As we continued our discussions another friend of mine Mr. Ronney came and joined us for break fast. By now both Qamar and me had finished ours and were getting up for our cup of tea. Ronney is the brother of Honey Sherman – one of the pretiest face who played some agressive Squash in early and mid 80’s.
- When Ronney spoke about Honey – Qamar straight away went on to ask Ronney about her welfare and what she was doing. Ronney even got Qamar to speak with his sister who was in Jaipur.
- Qamar’s humility had put both me and now Ronney at great ease. We felt as if we were in the company of our regular friends.
- The topic in between changed to “Chai” (Tea). We were all discussing how this hotel did not give “Karak Chai” (Strong Tea) something all of us from the sub-continent are so used to drinking.
- We spoke about traditional sweet – “Jalebi” – which I told Qamar my father would have daily after his work – out. Dad was a middle distance runner and ate little more than one kilo of Jalebi and drank one liter milk everyday.
- Jalebi – was something that Qamar also indulged in. Focus of our conversation changed to how modern lifestyles have changed our eating habits and diet.
- Here Qamar mentioned how he would complain to his begum (wife) that their son Mansoor would use a car to go to the Squash Court for training. “Why can’t the bugger use a cycle or run?” he would ask her mentioning that this is all he did when he trained. She reminded him that if his father owned a car even Zaman would have been using it like Mansoor.
- I drew his attention towards Shahid Zaman – talk about how politics in the sport has affected Shahids game.
- Qamar – explained that the game is played between two players – and it is always the better player who wins. If you play well you win and NO ONE keeps a winner out of the team.
As we got up and started walking up the stairs to our rooms – I asked Qamar about his limp. He said this is due to excessive use of the hip joint and this would need a replacement to correct. I advised him acupressure to release the stress and pain in his hip and briefly the topic changed to traditional / alternate remedies as were suggested by Grand Mothers in each home.
If any of you did not know what Mr. Qamar Zaman has achieved on the Squash Court – please read the following…..
Here are some career highlights
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He was one of the leading players in the game in the 1970s and 1980s. His biggest triumph was winning the British Open in 1975.
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Qamar won the Pakistan junior squash championship in 1968. On his first trip to the United Kingdom in 1973, he reached the semi-finals of the British Amateur championship. In 1974, he reached the semi-finals of the British Open and won the Australian Amateur championship.
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In the 1975 British Open, Qamar beat the defending-champion Geoff Hunt of Australia in the quarter-finals, and went on to win the title beating his fellow Pakistani player Gogi Alauddin in the final 9-7, 9-6, 9-1.
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Subsequently, Qamar reached the British Open final on four further occasions. He was runner-up to Hunt in 1978, 1979 and 1980, and to Jahangir Khan in 1984. He was also runner-up at the World Open four times, losing to Hunt in the finals of 1976, 1979 and 1980, and to Jahangir in 1984.
Later I came to know that the Pakistani Team was to leave for home. Since I had not taken any photographs – I retuned to the hotel in the evening around 8.30 pm and called Qamar’s in his room to see if I could go across and take a few snaps of him.
The phone kept ringing for sometime and got answered by a sleepy Mr. Zaman, when I asked him if I could come in take some photo’s – “I am sleeping – let us do it tomorrow morning” he said.
They were to leave the following morning for the airport at around 6.00 am. I asked for a wake-up call and was up in the lobby as I saw bell boys loading the luggage of the Pakistani contingent.
Mr. Zaman walked greeting me and came and sat next to me. His PARTING TIP - ”early to bed early to rise “.
I managed a few pictures as we were joined by Dhiraj Singh and Vijay to fellow referees. All of us chatted and then the disciplined soldier got up and shook hands with all of us before boarding the bus to the airport.
Qamar Zaman
Qamar Zaman with the Author
1 + 2 + 3 = 2016 S Q U A S H @ O L Y M P I C S
As the sport fraternity gets together to pledge its support for the game in its bid for Olympics 2016 on May 23rd, 2009 - World Squash Day, Sports4Health Unlimited (S4HU) tries to make a small contribution by reaching out to all like-minded people who are associated with Squash or any other sport.
Starting today S4HU would like all our fellow followers, readers and friends to do justice to what we consider is the “Greatest Sport of all Time”. In an effort to be fair to other sports we will share links for you through this post that should help you make a fair decision. We will be putting together for you a lot of information from Squash and other web-sites the world over so that by the end of it we can have respective opinions. Please understand the game is so strong and its fraternity so independant it does not require and outside financial help. Having said this we must draw everyone’s attention that the Industry of Sports has become so commercial that sometime there are other pressures as well.
SINCE WE SEEK OPINION FOR ONE AND ALL IT DOES NOT MATTER
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WHERE YOU ARE ?
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WHAT YOU DO ?
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HOW OLD YOU ARE ?
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WHAT GAME YOU PLAY ?
So ladies and genlemen please ponder on the following that we offer for your own personal opinion :
The Healthiest Sport
We have said it right in the begining, others are talking about it why don’t we leave you with the following links for you to make your own judgement…..
World Squash Federation wrote …… Squash is “the world’s healthiest sport”
This is the conclusion of Forbes Magazine which conducted a comprehensive technical study looking at a wide variety of sports against a number of measures including cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility and calories burnt while participating.
We think also that because squash delivers physiological benefits to participants in a controlled environment in a relatively short time (most games last about 45 minutes) it is absolutely right for today’s time-pressured society, particularly for young people.
Squash is a sport whose time has come
The inclusion of squash in the Olympic Programme remains the next logical step in the development of squash on a global level. Following years of growth and successful development of the professional Tours for men and women, and having successfully added value to all other major multi-sport Games, we would like to elevate competition further by adding a new competition to sit at the pinnacle of the sport: The Olympic Games. Critically, the sport is ready and prepared for this. It will not be an opportunity wasted. (Courtesy…. http://squash2016.info/)
Sports4HealthUnlimited wrote …. Feb 2008 …..
Advantages from Squash
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The game of squash has convenience on its side – Thirty minutes on the squash court provides an impressive cardio respiratory workout.
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Extended rallies and almost constant running builds muscular strength and endurance in the lower body.
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Lunges, twists and turns increase flexibility in the back and abdomen.
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The game of squash also encompasses plyometric exercises which are aimed at reducing the amount of time spent on the ground preparing to move, with the primary emphasis of most exercises focused upon vertical and forward motion.
To read specifically about MORE ADVANTAGES please click on the following post link…. http://sports4healthunlimited.wordpress.com/2008/02/03/squash-simply-uncomplicated/
One Game – For Everyone
We all have seen some really old people play the game. One name that comes to mind was my old Market – Ramanand Singh Bhagel we used to call him Marker Sahab because he was in his 80’s then. Then man despite his age was tall, handsome always standing straight, generous and above all sporty. This is close to 25 years ago Marker Sahib died later but until the very end was at the Squash Courts at DSOI – Dhaula Kuan, New Delhi.
Children can start young and I must confess since it is a challenge these days for parents to keep their kids off Television, Computer Games, Internet etc – Squash is your only answer to the childs mental, emotional and physical well being.
World Squash Federation wrote …… Squash is for everyone
Our sport is gender-neutral and is accessible to all ages, colours and beliefs. Everyone can play, with minimal price of entry: all you need is a racket and ball, and to rent a squash court (average cost: less than $4). You can get started instantly, as long as you can hit the ball with the racket in the direction of the front wall. Squash has a learning curve that rewards as equally as it challenges. Squash is a sport that is easy to play, but where achieving greatness must be the result of hours of training on fitness and technique. It is enthralling, exciting, absorbing, rewarding.
Squash for young people today
Squash is absolutely relevant to young people in the 21st Century, being easy to watch and understand and access, and producing a result in a short period of time. The game also includes layers of subtlety and strategy that enrich the experience for the more advanced viewer and player.
Squash is very easy to learn
Anyone who can hit a ball with a racket can play. A competitive game with rallies can be experienced by anyone with a reasonable eye for a ball and some hand-eye coordination, after only a very short time.
Squash is easy to be inspired by
Young people today crave instant or near-instant reward for their endeavours. Squash addresses this with a short learning curve and a short, intense duration of competition.
Squash teaches life skills
There is no doubt after a game who is the winner; the winner is always the best player. These essential life values are well demonstrated by the pure sport of squash. Furthermore, the fact that both players share the same court space means that in competition, they have to co-exist. This unique feature of our game teaches valuable lessons of friendship and friendly rivalry.
Then there was a friends mother Mrs. Kunjaroo who played a tournament organised by your truly a couple of years ago at the age of 75 and more recently I met a gentleman from Allahabad who played U.P. State Masters in Allahabad in the Over 55 category because there were no possible higher categories possible. He is 75 and as alert and errect as my Marker. In adults the game helps regulate blood sugare and blood pressure while keeping the bones healthy and muscle mass intact.
Besides this is one game that gets the children to concentrate more – so better results in school. Followers of this blog will know that Sports 4 Health Unlimited is basically an initiative in not only promoting Squash but also promoting a health foil for today’s growing up kids. We have had tremendous success with children loosing weight, improving their educational performances, showing signs of recovery from Asthama, and most other small lung infections and fevers.
Healthy lifestyle
World Squash Federation wrote …… “Squash is “the world healthiest sport”
Squash was voted by Forbes Magazine as the world’s healthiest sport, in recognition of the fact that it provides a thoroughly modern and potentially competitive, effective workout in minimal time and space. This makes it ideal for urban lifestyles, of the kind that have generated increases in child obesity and other metabolic health issues. Squash is a great way to combat these trends for the good of mankind and children in particular.
The Olympic Games represents all that is pure about sport, and all the world’s major participation sports are represented. Adding squash to the Olympic Programme – as one of the most widely played sports in the world – supports this ideal and reinforces the notion that the Olympic Movement represents the sporting landscape.
Squash is clean and fully WADA-compliant. The fight against doping in our sport is not neglected, but we are fortunate that the values of fair play and respect, for both the sport and one’s opponent, rule the squash player’s psyche. Incidents of squash athletes testing positive for banned substances are extraordinarily rare.
Squash fits today’s lifestyles
Busy people require exercise that can be conducted quickly with maximum return on the time invested. Squash burns up to 1500 calories per hour in a competitive, fun environment that delivers significant health benefits in as little as half an hour.
You can burn enough energy to compensate for eating two average hamburgers in only half an hour (we do not recommend eating hamburgers though).
This means that more people can play squash, more people can get healthy, and that squash makes a greater contribution to the health of the general public, when measured in calories per hour, than most other forms of activity. This is particularly so in urban environments where it can be difficult to find competitive exercise facilities.
Sports4HealthUnlimited wrote ….
What Stands for Squash
- Squash is a participant sport, and can be played for a lifetime. One sport where you do not even need an opponent. And if anyone in the Olympic Committee is reading my blog they will know how they are depriving such a wonderful game the necessary respect it has long deserved. You have to play the game to believe it…………….this is a movie made by a Medical Insurance Company they choose to use the game Squash because it is the most versitile sports around and if hand’nt noticed that is what I have been talking all this while.
- While Junior squash is growing rapidly, and the 2008 World Men’s Junior Championships boasted a record number of entries. With everyone so busy doing this and that we have failed to realise what Squash Rackets can do for Development. The Olympic movement propogates it as one of the major MISSIONS of its movement. But with the way things are these days Squash is the most likely sport to become a way of life. To understand what I mean please keep reading about The Game in my blog to understand the benefits that come packaged with the sport. None of us have to be a Pierre de Coubertin to understand what sport can do for mankind.
Read more about this post by clicking the following link….. http://sports4healthunlimited.wordpress.com/2008/02/14/squash-for-olympics/
THE WORLD SQUASH FEDERATION HAS DECIDED TO RE-BRAND AND CELEBRATE YEARS ANNUAL FEATURE – WORLD SQUASH DAY ON MAY 23, 2009 AS “SQUASH 2016 DAY”.
IT DOES NOT MATTER WHERE YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU DO – IN CASE YOU BELIEVE IN THE ABOVE CAUSE AND ARE ASSOCIATED WITH THE GAME HERE ARE THE FOLLOWING THINGS THAT YOU CAN DO TO BE A PART OF THE GLOBAL MOVMENT AIMED AT GETTING THE GAME OF SQUASH A RIGHT FUL PLACE AS AN OLYMPIC SPORT IN THE GAMES OF 2016.
* Club Open Day
* 24-hour squash marathons
* Play-A-Pro
* Adults v Juniors
* Doubles Tournaments
* Handicap tournaments
* Battle of the Sexes
* Wooden Rackets competitions
* Exhibition matches with a top professional or two
* Fifteen, twenty and – yes – thirty-a-side social “friendly” matches.
* Free courts for kids
* Free coaching sessions for players of all ages and abilities.
* World Record Rally
REMEMBER YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE A SQUASH PLAYER TO PROMOTE THIS GAME – YOU MUST BELEIVE IN THE SPORT AND WHAT IT STANDS FOR AND JUST JOIN THE GANG IN THE CELEBRATION.
ROCK STAR JUMPS IN TO LAUNCH SQUASH FOR 2016 DAY
Squash For 2016 Day is tuning up for a high-volume launch on May 23rd with a leading rock star staging a spectacular stunt to support the game’s bid for inclusion in the 2016 Olympics. Phil Buscke, a guitarist with New Zealand hard rock band The Datsuns, will be dressed in his Squash For 2016 T-shirt as he does a bungee jump from Auckland Harbour Bridge.
With similar activities taking place at key locations all over the world, Squash For 2016 Day organiser Alan Thatcher says: “We hope to build up a massive bank of images which will clearly illustrate squash’s global appeal, which is one of the key messages of the sport’s bid for Olympic inclusion.”
FINALLY, SINCE THE EVENT IS BEING ORGANISED ON MAY 23RD – HOW MANY OF YOU ACTUALLY KNOW THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS DATE. LET ME TELL YOU WHAT IT STANDS FOR, HERE GOES……
“….during the 9/11 attack on the Twin Trade Towers (The very pride of America) the sport lost many promising squash players. One such player who played at the New York Athletic Club was a Scotsman – Derek Swords. Swords was a former Scottish Junior’s International Squash Player – several of his friends decided to something special to in honour of his memory and provide something tangible for squash – this is how the day was born.
Noticing the interest that the day generated Derek’s employers KBW dedicated and sponsored a beautiful silver bowl which is used in as the Derek Swords Trophy “
DON’T WAIT FOR YOUR DAD, MOM, BROTHER, SISTER, COACH, LOCAL ASSOCIATION – IF YOU SERIOUSLY LOVE THE GAME AND BELEIVE IN EVERYTHING THAT COMES WITH IT JUST THINK OF ANYTHING BECAUSE REMEMBER AT THE END OF THE DAY IT IS NOT THE PUBLICITY / MILEAGE THAT YOU GET IT IS THE TRUE LOVE FOR THE SPORT THAT MATTERS.
Fall of the Paki Empire
Pakistan’s squash empire has a great fall!
The biggest tragedy for our squash is that people at the helm of the game at the national level are unwilling to admit that Pakistan squash is currently experiencing its darkest phase
By Khalid Hussain
The world of Pakistan squash seems to have been entirely built on sand. From the coaching of the players, to the so-called national junior development programme, you will hardly find anything concrete in the very structure of the game in a country that once fuelled world squash with an unlimited supply of champions.
The biggest tragedy for our squash is that the people at the helm of the game at the national level are unwilling to admit that Pakistan squash is currently experiencing its darkest phase. The Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) officials may like to think otherwise, but the bitter truth is that a sport which brought a nascent state on the map of international sport more than five decades back, is now in a shambles.
It’s a sad scenario but to bring any improvement in it, you will have to first accept it that that’s the way things stand for Pakistan squash at the moment. Less than ten years after the exit of Jansher Khan — the last of the country’s great champions — squash has moved perilously close to attaining the status of being a ‘dead sport’ in Pakistan.
Frankly speaking, squash was never a sport for the masses in Pakistan. Unlike cricket and hockey, squash seldom enjoyed the luxury of pulling huge crowds to the courts even at the time when legends Jahangir and Jansher Khan rode roughshod over their rivals on the international circuit.
But it was still the third most popular sport in the country, I would vouch for that. As a scribe who has been covering the sport for 18 years, I’ve kept a keen eye on the various ups and downs Pakistan squash has experienced since 1990.
Till a few years back, people used to ask me what’s happening in Pakistan and whether we will produce a world champion sometime soon. They may not actually go and see a squash match but they did take an interest in the game. But those squash fans have slowly disappeared. I won’t blame them. It’s difficult to follow a sport which you don’t play yourself and in which you don’t have any heroes to keep track of.
The era of Jahangir and Jansher is long gone and to tell you the truth nobody is really bothered when Aamir Atlas Khan wins a C grade tournament in Islamabad and is hailed as the next best thing for Pakistan squash.
For a few people, who are still involved with Pakistan squash either as ex-players, referees, family members of current players, officials or journalists, having a squash tournament in the country is like going through the motions. As a keen observer of the game, there is no doubt in my mind that the rare ‘title-winning triumphs’ our squash players achieve on home soil these days are engineered by the PSF. They do it intentionally or unintentionally is besides the point.
The only purpose that tournaments like the Chief of Air Staff (CAS) Open serve is that they keep our handful of squash professionals barely afloat in the top-100 world rankings.
As my good friend Jahangir Khan likes to point it, “I would like to see what happens to the rankings of our players if we stopped hosting such tournaments. I’m sure they (Pakistani players) would be unable to retain their place even in the top-100 rankings.”
For anybody who knows how the world rankings work, there cannot be a disagreement.
Less than one percent of professional squash is played in Pakistan. The rest happens in places like Europe, North America and across the Asian continent. If the PSF believes it can help a Pakistani become a world champion in the future just by holding tailor-made ranking events in the country, then it’s barking up the wrong tree. Unless our players start performing in ranking tournaments abroad, they cannot be considered world class players.
There is no doubt in my mind that Aamir Atlas and Farhan Mahboob are talented youngsters but they are not world class players. To attain that status, the boys will have to do well on the international circuit outside Pakistan, like that vastly-accomplished Egyptian boy Ramy Ashour, who can win a big squash match anywhere in the world.
Sadly, that hasn’t been happening for our very own squash players.
Take for example the Asian Squash Championships held in Kuwait earlier this year. The Pakistanis lost to underdogs Kuwait! When Jahangir heard about it, he thought it was a joke. “In the past, even our second or third string players would have beaten the Kuwaitis while playing with their left hands,” he remarks.
If the PSF people were unaware what was going on, then the debacle in Kuwait should have served as an eye-opener. But that didn’t happen. There was no post-mortem of that humiliating loss and it was business as usual for the gentlemen entrusted with the duties to run a game that became a part of our national fabric through the efforts of legends like Hashim Khan, Azam Khan, Roshan Khan, Mohibullah, Qamar Zaman, Gogi Alauddin, Jahangir and Jansher.
What the Air Marshals and the Wing Commanders at the helm of Pakistan squash don’t seem to understand is that the game needs much more than those cosmetic efforts they’ve been carrying out in recent times. The minor tournaments, the stereotype training camps, the tall claims are not enough. In fact in most cases, they are counterproductive.
Take for instance, events like the CAS Open.
In the present scenario, I believe these contests serve as mere crutches for our players, enabling them to remain a part of the cutthroat world of professional squash. They provide a short-term solution by helping them remain somewhere on the Professional Squash Association (PSA) computer.
But there are long-term repercussions of such an exercise. It provides a comfort zone to our players, which isn’t exactly the right luxury for budding sportsmen. The players know if they do well in a series of the Pakistan circuit events, they would earn enough world ranking points to stay in the top-100. For them, the more important part is that they will also continue to make a living. The sort of hunger that fuelled the great Khans is missing.
Events like the CAS Open also serve PSF’s purpose. Having an all-Pakistan final of a world ranking event in Islamabad is good publicity for them. It provides the platform for the PSF chief to claim that a new era has begun for Pakistan squash.
Is that really the case? It could be provided we are content with having a slim presence of our players in the top-100 and are unperturbed if our national team continues to lose against minnows Kuwait, Qatar or India.
It’s time that we stopped fooling ourselves. Pakistan squash has achieved dizzying heights in the past and it would be criminal to let it sink to abysmal depths.
It’s time that we launch a nation-wide drive to lift the fortunes of Pakistan squash.
The biggest responsibility lies on the shoulders of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF). For years, PAF has been controlling national squash affairs and provides PSF with financial and administrative support. In fact, PSF is actually a part of the PAF, like a multi-national will have a separate division looking after its Corporate Social Responsibility.
In return, the PAF chief gets the post of PSF president. He can install his handpicked officers to become senior vice-president, secretary and treasurer of the federation. To be fair with the PAF, it has contributed a lot to Pakistan squash in the past. But the problem is that its contribution towards Pakistan squash is insufficient in the current circumstances.
To be continued next Sunday (in the second part, the writer will discuss the problems facing Pakistan squash and the ways and means that can be used to promote it)
The writer is Editor Sports
‘The News’ Karachi
khalidhraj@gmail.com
Tribute to the Greatest Players of all time
“He was the first but by far the best in the thirty years of dominance squash by the Khan Dynasty”
The Master’s Golden Rules on Squash
All sportsmen know that the basic essentials of their game can be expressed in very few words. The greatest squash player of all time, Hashim Khan, needed just one page and nine points to record a lifetime experience of the game he dominated. These pidgin-English principles are key. They take just sixty-seven words: we have added analogies for business that are just as critical for excellence as Hashim’s points are for squash.
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Keep eye on ball. Concentration on the objective is an essential element in all success.
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Move quick to T (the position on the court from which you can dominate the play). Seek the position of greatest strength and comfort.
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Stay in crouch (the position from which it is easiest to spring into action). Be ready to act at any time.
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Take big step. Think and act big, if that’s what you want to be.
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Keep ball far away from opponent. The golden rule of competition is to avoid head-on conflict wherever possible – to bypass the opposition.
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Have many different shots ready so opponent does not know what you do next. Exactly so.
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Do not relax because you play good shot…better you get ready for next stroke. Exactly so again.
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Soon as can, find out where opponent has idea to send ball. Know your competitors, and act on your knowledge.
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Have reason for every stroke you make. Always think before acting.
S4HU
