A week ago, the Denver Athletic Club played host to the annual Hashim Khan Championship Squash Tournament, one of Denver’s crown jewel sporting events for 44 years and counting. The tournament, which attracts players from across the globe, is designed to honor Khan, a man who valued sportsmanship over results.
At the same time, Khan was the ultimate competitor, reaching and holding the World No. 1 position for over 10 years throughout the 1950s.
The tournament is the only tournament in the country that runs Professional Doubles, Pro/Am Doubles, Amateur Doubles, Amateur Singles, and Masters Singles (aka “age group singles”) in the same weekend and at the same time. Outside of honoring Kahn, the primary objective of the tournament is enhance and grow the squash community in Denver and beyond.
The 44th Hashim Khan Championships featured on the top three players in the world for professional doubles – Scott Arnold of Australia, James Stout of Bermuda, and Sam Khalifa of Egypt). Arnold and Stout play together in the majority of the events on the tour. Khalifa’s normal partner, Chris Callis of the United States, recently was diagnosed with testicular cancer and was unable to play; as such Khalifa paired with Cam Pilley from Australia.
The No. 1 seeded team of Stout and Arnold won their first match of the tournament against local pros Omar Kiwan (originally from Egypt and the Assistant Pro at the Denver Athletic Club) and Josh Cardwell (originally from Australia). Stout and Arnold advanced to the quarterfinals with a 3-1 win over Kiwan and Cardwell.
The No. 2 seeded team of Khalifa and Pilley (Cam Pilley holds the world record for the hardest hit squash ball at 177 MPH) played a local American team of Preston Quick and Michael Woods, the current Head Professional of the Denver Athletic Club. Khalifa and Pilley dropped the first game to Woods and Quick. That was the only game they dropped, however, as they cruised through the finals.
Denver produced a third local team of Jacques Swanepoel (originally from South Africa) and Parth Sharma of India. They reached the round of 16 before losing to the eventual finalists, American Josh Hughes and Tor Christoffersen of Sweden, 3-1.
With the tournament on the line in the quarterfinals, the world No.1 team of Stout and Arnold were in a battle with the team of Justin Todd and Cole Osborne. Back and forth they went through four games, and the fifth and deciding game reached 14 all, where Todd and Osborne snuck away with a victory sending Stout and Arnold home early.
In the semifinals, the Cinderella story came to an end for Todd and Osborne as they fell to Hughes and Christoffersen, 3-1. The other semifinal was John Russell (of Wales and former world number 1) and Matt Henderson (of Canada) lost in 3 to Cam Pilley.
The final match up featured Josh Hughes and Tor Christoffersen against Cam Pilley and Sam Khalifa. Pilley and Khalifa got off to an early lead and won the first game comfortably. A large comeback in the second game by Christoffersen and Hughes resulted in a 14-12 lead before a broken ball. Pilley and Khalifa proceeded to win the next 3 points and ultimately winning the game 15-14. With a 2-0 start in the final, the first-time partner duo of Khalifa and Pilley got off to a hot start getting up 8-0 and looking like they would cruise to victory. Dropping only one game (to the local team of Woods/Quick) Khalifa and Pilley were the winners of the 44th Hashim Khan Professional Championships.
The Hashim Khan Championships had players representing Bermuda, Canada, Australia, Egypt, Scotland, Wales, Netherlands, India, Sweden and America – an extremely competitive and globally diverse group of players. All said and done, the 44th turned into the largest ever hosted by the Denver Athletic Club and second-largest on the tour this year.