LONDON: Azam Khan, who is regarded as one of the world’s best squash players, passed away at the age of 95 in London after a week-long battle with coronavirus.Khan tested positive for Covid-19 last week and breathed his last at London’s Ealing Hospital, family sources said on Saturday.
Azam Khan, the younger brother of Pakistan’s legendary Hashim Khan, won the British Open four times between 1959 and 1962. One of his victories was over Roshan Khan with a dominating 9-1, 9-0, 9-0 scoreline that forced the Squash Rackets Association to introduce a playoff for third place to make it worthwhile for the audience to buy tickets.
Azam was at the peak of his career when he last appeared on the professional circuit in 1962. The same year he clinched the most important hardball tournament, the US Open, for the first time. Azam then retired from competitive squash due to an Achilles tendon injury. Although his injury healed nearly two years later, he never returned to the professional circuit.
“Yes, the Achilles healed but another wound never healed. I completely lost interest when my 14-year-old son died in 1962. Thereafter, my squash activities were confined to my club,” he said in a past interview.
Khan stopped playing squash altogether a little over a decade ago due to osteoarthritis. Born in Nawakille, a small village outside Peshawar, Azam had settled in the UK in 1956.
