Google pays tribute to Squash legend Hisham Khan by making its doodle. Yes, a moment of pride for us, but how many of us are listening to his name for the first time? Do we remember him? or our youth knows about him? How sad is for us as a nation that we have forgotten our hero who won British Open Squash championships 7 times.
Great nations always remember their heroes. As American Calvin Coolidge President said:
A nation that forgets its heroes will itself soon be forgotten
Hisham Khan was born in Peshawar. On his youth, he worked as a ball boy at Club's squash courts. After officers at court finished playing he used to practice squash barefoot on brick courts and soon he won All-of-India titles three times. After partition, he decided to remain in Pakistan and will play for Pakistan. From 1951-1956 he won 6 British Open titles and won his last British Open title in 1958. Besides this, he also won five British professional Championship titles, three Canadian Open titles and three US Open titles.
He was Uncle of famous Squash Player Jahangir Khan. He was the
first one from Khan family to won British open championship. Pakistan won British Open title 29 times. Every time it was won by Khan family Either by Hisham Khan or his relatives Jahangir Khan or Jansher Khan.
In 1958, he was awarded Pride of performance by the president of Pakistan. In 1959, he was awarded by Tamgha e Qaid e Azam by Government of Pakistan. In 2008, He was also awarded by Sitara-i-Imtiaz (Star of Excellence) the Government of Pakistan.
Later he was invited by the USA to teach squash in Uptown Athletic Club. He settled there and died in 2014 at the age of 100.
0 Comments