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 The
British Open was built by the legendary
players who called it "their own".
For decades, the world's greatest squash
players, men and women, have focused
on the British Open. They organized
their lives, focused their training,
tapered their psyche, dug deep inside
to perform at the British Open.
It really all started with F.D. Amr
Bey, an Egyptian transplanted to England,
who took up squash and became determined
to win and retain the British Open Championship.
Amr Bey won the title six time, and
was undefeated in British Open appearances.
Amr Bey was viewed as the first "professional
amateur" - that is squash became
all consuming to him and his training
led him to levels of accuracy and fitness
that made him legendary and unbeatable
in his day. You can say that he focused
his life for those six years around
winning the British Open.
Following a single win by a Britisher
- Jim Dear in 1939 - Mahmoud Karim regained
the crown for Egypt, winning the event
for four straight years. Egyptians would
go on to win 13 total titles through
today. Karim, who had been regarded
as unbeatable for his mesmerizing shot
making, had his string cut short by
the legendary Hashim Khan. .
Hashim was in his mid-thirties when
he first entered and won the British
Open, but went on to dominate the sport
throughout most of the fifties, picking
up a further six British Open titles
to establish a record which stood till
1981.
But Hashim also needs to be viewed grouped
together with his close relatives, cousin
Roshan, brother Azam, and nephew Mo
Khan. Together, these four won the British
Open for 13 straight years from 1951
through 1963. This string of Pakistani
victories also coincided with the birth
of a new nation, Pakistan, and created
a strong sense of national pride and
identity. While Pakistan was becoming
an incubator for an incredible array
of squash talent, three other stars
were emerging, Australians Ken Hiscoe
and Geoff Hunt and Irishman Jonah Barrington.
Ken Hiscoe became the most illustrious
player never to win the British Open,
while Barrington went on to win six
British Opens and Hunt seven. Again,
for Barrington and Hunt, the British
Open became the focus of their entire
careers. Their entire training and competitive
schedules were focused around their
meetings at the British Open. Mo Khan
parlayed his 1963 British Open win into
a meeting with President Kennedy; Kennedy
arranged for Mo Khan to take of as pro
at Boston's Harvard Club Barrington,
who was trained by Roshan's brother
Nazrullah Khan, won six titles but found
a horde of loyal Pakistani fans amassed
to cheer against him, to prevent him
from earning the seventh title that
would tie legendary Hashim's record.
These Pakistani fans physically prevented
Naz from coaching Barrington between
games in his quest for the seventh title
- such was the prestige and allure of
the British Open.
These stars created a strong motivation
for the Pakistani squash movement, whose
stars Gogi Alauddin, Mo Yasin, Qamar
Zaman, Hiddy Jahan, Mohibullah Khan
("the younger"), and Torsham
Khan were playing foil to Barrington
and Hunt (though Zaman gained the Open
title once in 1975).
It was the incomparable Jahangir Khan,
younger brother of Torsham, who reclaimed
the British Open Championship for Pakistan.
But Jahangir did more than simply win
the British Open -- in many ways he
raised the stature and mystique of the
British Open to a new level.
Jahangir, who as a teenager wrested
the world championship away from Geoff
Hunt in 1981, won the British Open Title
for 10 straight years. His run of ten
championships is made much more impressive
by the fact that for the last three
of those years, Jansher Khan had won
many of their meetings, but Jahangir
in each case was able to raise the level
of his competitive effort up to be able
to win the all-important British Open
title. Jahangir's record is likely to
remain unbroken for many years, possibly
forever.
Finally, after a 10 year run, Jahangir
relinquished the championship to Jansher,
who won the Open six times, ending in
1997. Since then the British Open Title
has been 'up for grabs' - bounced between
Peter Nicol, Jonathon Power and David
Evans (one win each).
Which player will next marshal the talent,
will, determination and charisma to
create the next British Open dynasty?
External Links:
Official
web site |
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