Pakistan sports and the talent drain: How it all started

Over the years, Pakistan sports has suffered because of the fact that dozens of the country’s elite athletes have either defected, sought political asylum or simply switched allegiance.

Most of the time, while looking for greener pastures, the country’s sportspersons have chosen European nations.

But when it all started, it was the ‘Land of Opportunities’ which offered the greatest temptation to arguably the greatest sports family of the country – the mighty Khans of Pakistan squash.

It was the United States of America where Hashim Khan, the father of Pakistan’s squash empire, moved along with his family back in the sixties.

But the great Hashim Khan wasn’t the first Pakistani sportsman to switch allegiance.

It was his flamboyant nephew Mohibullah Khan Sr, who was the first to fall in love with America after visiting the country for a squash assignment in 1960.

The fateful meeting with JFK

This is the story of that fateful trip which changed the lives of the Khan clan forever. It also, in many ways, changed the course of Pakistan squash history.

Mohibullah, then 23, was joined by Roshan Khan, the former British Open champion whose son Jahangir Khan went on to become the most successful squash player of all time, on the US visit. Both of them were, at that time, counted among the world’s leading professionals. They went to the US to play a series of exhibition matches.

One of the matches took them to the Pentagon courts, where the duo was invited for an informal meeting with President John F. Kennedy.

Mohibullah, who was known in the squash community as Mo, had already made up his mind about moving to the US. During the meeting with President Kennedy, he openly expressed that desire. His request was accepted right away by Kennedy, whose passion for sports is widely documented.

The President’s brother, Edward, put Mohibullah’s application on the fast track and within no time he was in Boston, working as a professional at the prestigious Harvard Club.

Hashim also opts for the American dream

Hashim Khan, meanwhile, was shuttling between his native Peshawar and London. After winning his inaugural British Open title in London in 1951 – Pakistan’s first-ever major sports title – Hashim had won five more crowns. But he was still not getting the sort of respect which a six-time British Open champion should have received back home.

Seeing Mo making a successful move to the US, Hashim, too, made up his mind to switch allegiance.

Hashim accepted a job to teach squash at the Uptown Athletic Club in Detroit before settling in Denver, Colorado. The Denver Athletic Club continues to hold an annual Hashim Khan squash tournament in his honour.

Hashim’s eldest son, Sharif Khan rose to become the top player on the North American hardball squash circuit in the 1970s, winning a record 12 North American Open titles.

Mohibullah Khan Sr (right) with Azam Khan (centre) and Roshan KhanPakistan Squash Federation

Mohibullah, who won the British Open in 1962, also switched to the hardball circuit, winning a total of four US Open titles. He passed away at a relatively young age of 56 in 1994. 20 years later on August 18, 2004, his uncle Hashim died in his home in Aurora, Colorado due to congestive heart failure at the age of 100.

The two of them were the first Pakistani sports stars to leave their country of birth in search of a better future. Many others, many years later, continue to follow suit.

Khalid Hussain is Editor Sports at Nukta