Adieu, Aftab Jawaid!

Aftab Jawaid, who recently passed away at the age of 87, would have been counted among sporting greats if he had represented any country other than Pakistan.

After all, he is the only player in history to record a hat-trick of titles in the prestigious British Amateur Squash Championships. Aftab also featured in three British Open finals but it’s the fact that he never won the coveted title which made the news of his passing almost unnoticed in his home country.

That shouldn’t have been the case.

Aftab was certainly a squash legend in his own right. And not just because he won international titles during an illustrious career back in the sixties and early seventies. It was because he was the chief flag-bearer of Pakistan squash during a 12-year-long barren run when the country failed to win the British Open crown.

In a way, he was the man who helped pave the path for Pakistan squash’s revival in the seventies. Between 1951 to 1997, Pakistan won 30 British Open titles through seven legends starting from Hashim Khan and Azam Khan to Jahangir Khan and Jansher Khan. This might not have been possible without men like Aftab who kept Pakistan’s flag flying during a time when players from Egypt, Ireland and Australia had ended Pakistan’s supremacy in squash.

Aftab with great rival and friend Jonah Barrington, who twice defeated him in the final of the British Open

In fact, it was Aftab who made his talented nephew Qamar Zaman switch from tennis to squash. Qamar went on to win back the British Open title in 1975 when he made short work of compatriot Gogi Alauddin 9–7, 9–6, 9–1 in a one-sided at the Wembley Squash Center in London.

A true gem

In the late nineties, I had a lot of meetings with Aftab in Karachi. At that time, he was running a squash club in the posh DHA locality. I met him both as a sports journalist and as a part-time squash player, looking for tips to improve my game.

He was a gem of a person, who felt greatly for Pakistan squash. That was the time when Jansher’s era had ended abruptly because of a knee injury. Aftab accepted a role as head coach of Pakistan’s elite training program and helped shape the careers of cousins Shahid Zaman and Mansoor Zaman, both of whom rose to join the top-15 world rankings.

Aftab would later tell me that both Shahid and Mansoor had the potential to become British Open champions had they been given proper training and exposure.

Aftab’s own journey in squash should also have culminated with the British Open crown. His story begins in 1951 when Hashim Khan came out of nowhere to win the British Open at the Lansdowne Club in London. Hashim was from the village of Nawakilli near Peshawar. Aftab’s family also hailed from there.

For the next 12 years, Pakistan had a stranglehold over the world circuit with Hashim winning six more British Open titles while his younger brother Azam Khan claiming it on four occasions. In between Roshan Khan, father of the legendary Jahangir Khan, added his name to the list of British Open winners in 1957. Mohibullah Jr, nephew of Hashim and Azam, became the fourth Pakistani to annex the trophy when he won a memorable finale in 1962.

However, starting from 1963 Pakistan faced a major British Open title drought as for more than 12 years no player from the country could win the trophy.

There were several Pakistani players, who were counted among the best in the world during the sixties and early seventies. Most of them came agonizingly close but failed to win what was then regarded as the most precious prize in international squash.

Leading the list of top Pakistani players, who unfortunately never managed to win the British Open was Aftab. He was a Punjab-born Pathan, whose grandfather was a professional working for the Maharaja of Kashmir. His father, Aurganzeb Khan, worked at the squash club in Srinagar. Just a few years before partition, Aftab’s family moved to Quetta where the youngster started showing a flair for squash in the fifties.

Aftab Jawaid on tour in New Zealand in June 1965

By the sixties, Aftab had established himself as the best amateur in Pakistan and then made his presence felt internationally by winning the British amateur title in 1963. It was the same year when Mohibullah Sr tried and failed in his attempt to win the British Open crown.

Aftab won two more British amateur trophies before reaching the final of the British Open in 1966. He also reached the final in ‘67 and then again in 1971 but could never win the title. He initially lost to Egyptian great Abou Taleb and later to Irish legend Jonah Barrington.

“It is one of my biggest regrets,” he said back in 2001, when I was working on my book The Golden Rule – Fifty Years of Squash in Pakistan. “I could have won it.”

Aftab might not have won the British Open but he will always be remembered as the man who helped save Pakistan squash back in the sixties.

A thorough gentleman, Aftab played a big role in shaping the careers of Qamar, Shahid and Mansoor. He could have played a bigger role but politics in Pakistan squash forced him to move back to England where he had a house in Manchester.

Rest in peace Aftab Jawaid. Yours was certainly a life well-lived.