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Squash legends Hashim, Azam and Hunt honoured


MANCHESTER, Oct 23: Pakistan’s Squash legends, brothers Hashim and Azam Khan, alongwith with Australian Geoff Hunt have been honoured with Lifetime Achievement Awards at the World Squash Awards held here on Wednesday evening.The presentations took place in the Great Hall of the historic Manchester Town Hall before a packed gathering of VIPs, players and officials from the sport during the city’s hosting of the World Squash Championships, the first joint staging of the men’s and women’s World Opens in the UK.The men’s world title was won by Egypt’s Ramy Ashour and the women crown went to Nicol David of Malaysia.Hashim Khan, born in Peshawar in 1916, won the British Open seven times between 1951 and 1958. The distinguished 92-year-old who only recently gave up playing the sport, journeyed from his home in Denver, USA, to receive his award.His younger brother Azam Khan, based in the UK, continued the family’s association with the sport’s most coveted title, firstly finishing as runner-up to Hashim in three British Open finals before going on to claim the title four times, from 1959 to 1962.Geoff Hunt took up the gauntlet thrown down by British hero Jonah Barrington, winning his first British Open crown in 1969 before picking up a total of eight titles by 1981.The presentations were made by Lifetime Achievement Award holder Jahangir Khan, the six times World Open champion and record ten-time British Open champion who ended his six-year reign as President of the World Squash Federation and has been succeeded by N.Ramachandran of India.Jahangir received a Special Award from the WSF. Emeritus President Susie Simcock delivered a citation in which she reminded the star-studded audience that Jahangir first came to prominence in 1979 when he won the World Amateur title, aged 15 - before going on to achieve a remarkable 774-match unbeaten run, over five years and eight months. Perhaps his most notable accolade, however, was the award of ‘Sportsman of the Millennium’ in Pakistan.“Jahangir quite simply represents everything that’s good about Squash - and everything that’s good about sport,” concluded Ms Simcock.Nicol David, the world number one from Malaysia who went on to win the women’s World Open title for a third time in Manchester, won the WISPA Player of the Year Award for the fourth year in a row. David received the award from fellow countryman Prince Tunku Imran, Patron of the WSF and a prime mover in Squash making its debut in the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur in 1998.England’s James Willstrop beat Egyptians Amr Shabana and Ramy Ashour to win the PSA Player of the Year Award presented by the newly elected PSA Chairman Ziad Al-Turki.Hong Kong’s Annie Au won the WISPA Young Player of the Year Award. Omar Mosaad, a 20-year-old from Cairo, picked up the PSA Young Player of the Year Award.England international Laura Lengthorn-Massaro won the WISPA Most Improved Player of the Year Award.Jahangir Khan’s final evening as the WSF President was also observed and a tribute to all his hard work over the years was greeted with a standing ovation.

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