Hashim Khan, 100 to 104, squash champion

[Bob Of Burleson]

By Adam Bernstein
The Washington Post

Hashim Khan, who learned to play squash barefoot in what is now Pakistan and broke class and racial barriers to become a seven-time world champion in the 1950s, a record that stood for more than a generation and helped launch a family dynasty of players, died Aug. 18 at his home in Aurora, Colo. He was widely believed to be 100, possibly 104.

The cause was congestive heart failure, said his son Mohammad “Mo” Khan.

Squash matches, contested on rectangular courts with all walls in play, is a punishing blend of speed, power, precision, stamina and mathematical calculation. One British athlete memorably equated it to “boxing with rackets.” (Squash rackets have smaller heads and thinner shafts than their tennis cousins.)

Mr. Khan was an unlikely master of the sport. He grew up in India during the prime of the British raj, in what became after partition the northwest frontier region of Pakistan. At first glance, he was unintimidating: 5-foot-4, balding and stocky, with a protruding belly that even Prince Philip of England remarked on when they met. And he was approaching an age when most squash players are retiring — his late 30s — when he began his remarkable run of victories at the British Open, the sport’s premier event.

Mr. Khan triumphed seven times at the competition between 1951 and 1958, shocking the squash elite, vastly broadening the game’s appeal and cementing his reputation as the fiercest competitor in the world for years to come.

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