PSA50 – Rivalries: Facing Jahangir & Jansher

By RJ Mitchell

Theirs was a rivalry that straddled two decades and one which ultimately ended with the junior partner in the duo on top.

Yet when it came to the major titles filleted by our greats it was the senior who sits at the summit of the all-time major winners list with a staggering 16 British and World Open titles to his credit while his nemesis is positioned second with 14.

So when it comes to calling the shots on Jahangir versus Jansher there is arguably no tougher choice to make and in that respect there is surely no one better than Ross Norman to make it.

The teak-tough Kiwi is arguably the fiercest competitor in squash history, an all-action man on and off the boards who survived a life-threatening parachute accident to ultimately end Jahangir’s unsurpassed 555-match winning streak, to become the 1986 World Champion in Toulouse.

Yet Norman’s career also spanned the changing of the guard that saw the older Khan’s dominance grasped by his enigmatic younger countryman, with Norman having been bested by Jansher in the 1988 World Open final in a brutal four-set semi-final.

Even more painfully Norman, seeded No.2, was edged in a titanic five set British Open semi-final in 1987 by the teenage Jansher who was to be crowned senior World Champion just a year after claiming the junior crown.

“I think I played Jahangir 30 times and 20 of these were in major finals like the British Open, World Open, European, French and German Opens and lost to him every time,” said Norman.

“So you couldn’t go changing your game too much as you had to try and play to your strengths. For me, if you change your game to expose someone’s weaknesses, and Jahangir didn’t really have any, then changing your game would put you in a worse position.

“I always thought you had to try and outlast him and stay on court as long as possible but after an hour you felt like you’d been beaten up! Really you came off court and you’d had it.

“So to win you had to stay on court with him for around two hours and I managed to do that to show a slight weakness and finally I got him in the World Open in ’86.

“But the pace Jahangir took off at, well you were just trying to stay with him. That said, a guy that takes off at that pace, as fit and as strong as he was, and also the reputation Jahangir had, well you just can’t keep that pace up forever.

“Although it always seemed like he could as his matches lasted maybe an hour to 90 minutes at most. So that was my theory, to contain him, stay on court and hopefully he got tired.”

Turning his attention to Jansher, Ross shared: “Jansher was just an excellent player and he was probably the fastest mover on court that I played.

“The big difference between him and Jahangir was that you could take your game to him although he seemed to enjoy that and also seemed to be able to deal with whatever you threw at him.

“On the other side of the coin it was difficult to take your game to Jahangir, you had to deal with his as he imposed it on you so fiercely.

“So Jansher was almost the opposite, it was like he was saying: ‘Come on, give me your best.’ He was a superbly fit guy, very light on his feet, I think he was close to six foot one and he was even lighter than me!”

All the great champions are hard to beat so when it came to this crucial metric Norman’s thoughts were fascinating and he shared: “With Jahangir he just wasn’t lacking in anything. He was a very strong man, very powerful and there was just no chink in his armour and just nothing to attack.

“Mostly he would drive it straight down the wall and build his rally by getting his length game going. Really it was just a pressure situation all the time and you didn’t have a lot of time to think and implement a game plan. You had to try and break his game up but that was always difficult to do.

“Also, as I said, he brought the game to you and it was very hard for you to impose your game on him and I think there were a couple of things which drove Jahangir to become so good.

“The legacy of squash at that time in Pakistan was very powerful and when Jahangir came through in 1980 he had a lot of people to look up to.

“There was Qamar Zaman, Mohibullah Khan, Hiddy Jhan and so on and these were the immediate ones but of course there was his uncle Hashim Khan, so I guess he aspired to be like them.

“The other thing which drove him was the promise to his older brother Torsam, who died on court, that he was going to be world champion for him.”

Now back to Jansher and Norman reflected: “When Jansher came through he came through fast and young and won the World Open at 17 or so.

“Although it took him a few years to challenge Jahangir consistently for the biggest titles he did and the big thing that helped him was he got wins over Jahangir early in his senior career.

“The only thing I would say about him is that Jansher didn’t have the same aura about him as Jahangir but he was a fantastic player.”

While Jahangir edged the major title list and holds that surely never to be beaten 555-match winning run, when it came to the competitive head-to-head Jansher prevailed 19-17.

Interestingly the younger Khan also holds the record as the professional game’s longest reigning No.1 with an amazing 97-months as global ruler in residence behind him.

So what would happen if the duo met at their peak?

“Jahangir wins on pressure, accuracy, and pace and probably 3-1,” he said.

“Of course Jansher was no mug and he would fight all the way as he had a real stubborn streak in him. So it would have been tight but for me Jahangir was just the better player.

“Really I would say, he would have beaten everyone else in the world at his best 3-0 and possibly Jansher as well, so Jahangir had the edge.

“If you put them both at their peak to play each other hypothetically in it (Olympic Final) Jahangir would come out on top and I think you’d find most of the guys like Chris Dittmar, Dean Williams, Rod Martin and Rodney Eyles would probably all say the same thing.”