Hashim Khan is the legendary squash champion who founded the Khan squash
dynasty. He started as a ball boy at a British Army outpost near
Peshawar in what is now Pakistan.
He went on to win the British Open, essentially the
squash world championship, seven times, beginning in 1950 when he was
already 35 years old. In 2002 he played in the Over-60 division of
the British Open at the age of 87.
Herbert Warren Wind wrote in The New Yorker:
"The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that the greatest
athlete for his age the world has ever seen may well be Hashim Khan."
There are some major differences between squash (or squash racquets as
Hashim calls it) and racquetball. The court is smaller, the ball is not
as lively and the 18 inch tin on the front wall means that kill shots
are more difficult and rollouts are impossible.
Also, the grip and stroke mechanics are a little
different. Nevertheless, there are many things that are the same and
Hashim has some great advice for racquetball players. Here are some
passages that are particularly relevant for racquetball.
The following quotes are from Squash Racquets: the
Khan Game by Hashim Khan with Richard E. Randall. Detroit: Wayne
State University Press, 1967. In this book Hashim’s natural expressions
are left unchanged by his coauthor, which makes it a wonderful read. It
is still in print.
|
