Squash is My Racquet Trivia Quiz

Answer: England

In 1930, the Squash Rackets Association (the group now known as England Squash) set up a championship competition, open to both professional and amateur players. It was not the elimination tournament structure which has become more familiar as a championship format, but a challenge system. This means that the current champion would face a nominated challenger for the title. Usually, this challenger was either the then-current Amateur Champion or the Professional Champion. The competition took place over two matches, one at the home court of each player; in the case of this resulting in one victory each, a third match would be held in a neutral venue.

Charles Read, who had been the professional title holder for a number of years, was set up as the first champion, and Don Butcher was given the right to challenge him. He defeated Read in both the 'home' and 'away' legs of the final. Don Butcher then became the first winner of the British Open, winning the title in December of 1930 and holding it again in 1931, when he defeated Charles Arnold in the final. In 1932, he lost to the Egyptian player Amr Bey, who went on to hold the title through 1937.

Don Butcher (who won the Professional Championship 1930-32, concurrent with his success in the Open) was considered an innovative player. Most players adhered to the strategy of playing the ball along the walls, while he used a lot of boasts, lobs and drop shots, moving play around the court. His main weakness as a player was a lack of stamina in long matches - which he successfully masked with his creative shots until his aging legs let him down.

Answer: Ireland

Although Jonah Barrington was born in Cornwall, he was grew up in Ireland, and competed as an Irish player. He was 26 when he won the British Open in 1967, the first of six consecutive victories. The championship had changed from a challenger format to being an elimination tournament in 1947, so he had to win more matches than had been the case for the first winners of the title.

There were a total of 40 players in the 1967 tournament. The eight seeds (he was No. 5) were guaranteed a spot in the final 16, while the others played off in two elimination rounds for the other eight spots. Barrington ended up facing Englishman Mike Corby in his first match, followed by Egyptians A.A. AbouTaleb in the second round, and Ibrahim Amin in the third round. In the final he defeated Pakistan's Aftab Jawaid 9-2, 5-9, 9-3, 9-1.

Answer: Australia

Geoff Hunt became Australian Junior Champion in 1963, at the age of 19, and won his first Australian Amateur Men's Championship in 1965. He went on to win the British Open 8 times between 1969 and 1981 (and was twice runner up to Jonah Barrington). In 1976 the first World Open title was held, which became the title whose winner was generally considered to be No 1 in the world. Hunt won the first four of these (1976 - 1980).

The 1976 World Open championship (which was also the British Open for that year, and was held in London) had 64 entrants, all of whom played from the start. Hunt was seeded #2, and faced the #4 seed, Mohibullah Khan, in the final. He won a tight match 7-9, 9-4, 8-10, 9-2, 9-2.

Answer: Pakistan

The surname Khan was practically synonymous with Pakistan cricket in the middle of the 20th century. The previous question mentioned Mohibullah Khan, twice runner-up to Geoff Hunt in the British Open. There was another Mohibullah Khan, usually referred to as Mo Khan, who won the British Open in 1963. His uncles, Hashim and Azam Khan, dominated the sport during the 1950s; his cousin Jahangir Khan is often considered the greatest player of the 20th century. Jansher Khan (no relationship) vied with Jahangir Khan for dominance: between 1986 and 1991 they won 14 World Open titles. Head-to-head, Jansher held the edge 19 matches to 17.

Jahangir Khan won 555 consecutive matches between 1981 and 1986, at the time the longest winning streak in any top-level professional sport according the Guinness. In the time he won five World Open titles, before being runner-up in 1986 to New Zealander Ross Norman, ending his streak. In 1981 his World Open victory over Geoff Hunt made him the youngest champion to that time, at the age of 17. Following his retirement from competition in 1993, Jahangir Khan served as President of the World Squash Federation between 2002 and 2008, before becoming its first Emeritus President.

Answer: Canada

Jonathon Power won the World Open in 1998 and the British Open in 1999 (beating Peter Nicol both times), the year in which he became the first player from North America to be ranked #1 in the world. As a player, he has been compared to John McEnroe - not only did he develop a range of flashy and deceptive shots, but he also had a tendency to lose his temper when things were not going well. A bit of a prodigy, he turned professional in 1991 at the age of 16, and won 36 top-level events before his retirement in 2006.

Power is remembered for regaining top spot in 2006, after a 4 1/2 year gap, at the time the longest gap between times at the top for any player. He reached #1 in January, lost it in February, and regained it in March, retiring the following day. DEspite retiring from international competition, he did play in some domestic competitions, winning the Canadian Championship in 2008, and representing team Canada in the World Team Championships in 2007 and 2009.

Answer: Scotland

Peter Nicol was representing Scotland in 1998 when he became the first player from the United Kingdom to be ranked the world #1 squash player. He changed is representative nation in 2001 to England, so is sometimes listed as an English player.

In 1997 and 1998 he was runner up in the World Open tournament before winning it in 1999. Since the tournament was not held in 2000 or 2001, he held the title for three years without needing to defend it. He enjoyed significant success in Commonwealth Games competitions, with squash becoming one of its events in 1998. In 1998 he represented Scotland while winning a gold medal (defeating long-time rival Jonathon Power in the gold medal match), while his 2002 silver medal (a loss to Power) was won as an English player. In 2006 he scored gold again, and this time matched it in the doubles competition.

Answer: Egypt

This left-handed player from Cairo was one of the top Egyptian players at a time when that nation's players dominated the results in many major tournaments. A professional squash player from the age of 16, he won his first World Open in 2003, when he defeated the defending title holder (David Palmer) in the third round, and his compatriot Karim Darwish (then Egyptian No 1) in the semi-final. his victory over Thierry Lincou in the final made him the first Egyptian to win the title. The following year saw some disappointing performances, with his best result being a loss to Australian David Palmer in the final of the British Open, but in 2005 he regained form, including a victory over David Palmer in the final of the World Open, making him the first player in the 21st century to win it twice.

Amr Shabana clearly played his best game in odd-numbered years - 2007 and 2009 again saw him winning the World Open title. Along the way, he spent 33 months ranked as the No 1 player in the world, between 2006 and 2009.

Answer: France

France is not usually considered a powerhouse nation in the world of squash, but they have produced some outstanding players. Gaultier, nicknamed The General, was part of medal-winning teams at the World Team Championships six times between 2003 and 2019. As an individual competitor, he was a World Open medallist nine times between 2006 and 2017, including a victory in 2015. He had even more success in the British Open, winning it in 2007 (first French player to win the title), 2014 and 2017 - and being runner-up in 2013 and 2015.

The official Professional Squash Association world rankings, of course, are based on many more tournaments than these two, although they are usually considered the most prestigious titles. Gaultier's success in multiple competitions saw him reach the No 1 spot in 2009 (the year he won the Tournament of Champions in New York City, the first Frenchman to do so), and hold that position for a total of 20 months.

Answer: New Zealand

In 2022, Paul Coll became the first New Zealand player to reach the top of the PSA rankings and be dubbed the No 1 player in the world. This came about as the result of some strong tournament success, including winning the British Open in 2021 and 2022. His predecessor Ross Norman, who broke Jahangir Khan's five-year winning streak in 1986, only made it to No 2. (Only, of course, still being quite an accomplishment!)

In 2023, he won the United States Open, defeating the Egyptian player Ali Farag 11-7, 11-7, 8-11, 8-11, 12-10. That same year Farag defeated Coll in the quarter-final of the World Open; Farag's victory that year made him the first player since Geoff Hunt and Amr Shabana to win the title four times.

Answer: Peru

Diego Elías became the first South American player to reach the No 1 spot in the PSA rankings when he did so in April of 2023. He reached the top spot with a record that saw more runner-up finishes than titles, but be had won the 2021 Qatar Classic against Paul Coll and the 2022 US Open against Ali Farag.

He would go on to win the 2023 British Open (defeating Ali Farag) and the 2025 British Open (defeating Egyptian Mostafa Asal, the then-current world No 1 player).