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from
December 2004
RAHMAT KHAN : A LEGEND…
 Yes.
I’m afraid I’m old enough to have lived in the Jahangir Era. As a
young woman, I had two heros, Bjorn Borg and Jahangir Khan.
Both superstars (OK, maybe with a slight income difference…), both
amazing players, controlled, hard workers, and way way above anybody
else in their field.
So, I was really humbled today to meet the man who was at Jahangir’s
side for so many years. I don’t know how he did it, but he hasn’t
aged a bit. If anything, he looks younger. Or would it be I feel
older???
He was kind enough to have lunch with me, and talked to me about his
family, his career, Jahangir stories…
I was all ears, trust me, sleep or no sleep…
TOULOUSE 86
“The day Jahangir lost in Toulouse, my wife was about to have our
son Tarik. So, I said to him that, if the baby would come early, I
would join him there. Unfortunately, it wasn’t so. My sister in law,
who lives in Monte-Carlo, suddenly gave me a ring, to tell me that
she heard on the French radio that Jahangir was losing! I couldn’t
believe it… Then, she called me again to tell me that he lost. And
even if it had to happen one day, it was a sad day…”
 DEAN
WILLIAMS
“One day, in Paris, Jahangir was quite ill, and needed antibiotics.
But, as we were in the middle of a tournament, he couldn’t take any
medicine except for homeopathic. So, he would be ok for a few hours,
and then the fever would come back. But he still managed to get to
the final against Dean Williams.
Burning with fever, Jahangir was not at his best. So I told him “you
should be able to play for 30 minutes. After that, your body is
going to shut down. Try and win as quickly as possible”.
So Jahangir changed his game, and
instead of playing his normal long distance runner kind of game, he
attacked everything on sight, shortening the rallies and the games.
He won so quickly, in less than 25 minutes. A stunned Dean Williams
turned round to him and asked him very loudly:
“What's the hurry, mate????”…
6 MINUTE RALLY
When Jahangir started losing against Jansher, he was not a happy
man. But he was also losing because he started to train less. So,
for the Worlds one year, in Holland if my memory is correct, he
started training very hard again for two months. He was again very
strong.
The first rally of the final against Jansher lasted 6 minutes.
Jansher, incapable of recovering from the rally, ended up losing the
match rather easily and quickly…
PAIN BARRIER…
“Today, Pakistan doesn’t have great champions like in the past,
because the younger generation has it a bit too easy… They don’t
mind training a bit, but they don’t like passing the “pain barrier”
that much… If you want to be a champion, physical training is the
key…
THE FUTURE
I have now 2 sons, one is in England, Tarik, but doesn’t like
squash. He plays football at a very good level. But my youngest son,
6 years old, absolutely adores squash, he loves training with the
junior squad, and he is a natural with a racquet…
So, now we know that the future of
squash in Pakistan is assured.... Look out, world, another Khan is
on his way....
Framboise |
12-Feb-05:
GOOD YEAR FOR RAHMAT
Rahmat Khan, the legendary coach of Jahangir Khan is still
getting as much success as a coach as he was all those years ago. For
four years now, he has been working with great success for the
Pakistan Squash Federation, and his results are outstanding.
Last year’s Asian Games saw the best results for the Pakistan Team for
21 years, and this year is not bad either.
After swiping the
British Junior
Open (3 winners and a runner up out of 4 boys finals), they won
the Individual and Team event in the
Asian
Junior Championships in Chennai, India, and very logically, Rahmat
has just been nominated “Coach of the Year” for the second year
running.
And the year is just starting….
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