British Pakistani professional
squash player. She is the granddaughter of
Azam Khan, one of the legends of squash in
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
and daughter of Jacqui Stoter and Wasil Khan. She started playing squash in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
at age 12. In her early life, her father Wasil Khan coached her in squash.
Khan has won five titles in her career: El Salvador Open 2002, Ottawa Open 2003, Pakistan Open 2005 and Iranian Open 2007 and Austrian Open in 2008. Her highest ranking was 21st. Her first tournament was at the prestigious British Open in 1999. After an unsuccessful first full season in 2000, she made a breakthrough the following year, but it was not until 2002 that she won her first title.
In November 2002, at the El Salvador Open, she reached her first final against Mexican
Samantha Terán
Samantha Terán Quintanilla (born May 6, 1981, in Mexico City) is a professional female squash player who represents Mexico. Teran first joined the WISPA Tour in 2000, and she entered the world top twenty for the first time in 2008 as she won t ...
. Khan beat her 9–1, 2–9, 9–3, 9–1. Her improvements continued in 2003, her most successful season yet, and won at the Ottawa International, where she came from behind to beat Melissa Martin from
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, 3–9, 4–9, 9–4, 9–7, 9–3. She broke into the top 30.
At the Irish Open in 2004, Khan defeated
Nicol David
Datuk Nicol Ann David (born August 26, 1983) is a retired female Malaysian professional squash player. Beginning in August 2006, David was the world number one for a record-breaking 108 consecutive months, finally ceding the ranking in Septembe ...
of Malaysia (who was ranked number 9 in the world at that time) on 15 April 2004, and achieved her highest ranking of 21. In 2005, Khan lost in the final of the Forbes Open to England's Alison Walters. However, she made it to the final of the 1st POF WISPA tournament in Pakistan, and beat
Sharon Wee
Sharon Wee Ee Lin (born 5 October 1977 in Melaka) is a former professional squash player who represented Malaysia.
Career
During 2007 she reached the finals of four events and won her first WISPA title in November in the NSC Tour 10 No. 2 in K ...
of Malaysia 9–1, 9–3, 9–4. Khan never dropped a set throughout the whole tournament. She ended the year by making it to yet another final, at the 4th Women Islamic Games 2005 in Tehran, but lost to Malaysian
Tricia Chuah with a score of 1–9, 9–6, 1–9, 1–9.
In late 2005 she was unwell, and struggled in early 2006 until she collapsed during the 2006 South Asian Games on 24 August 2006 while playing against
Joshna Chinappa
Joshna Chinappa (born 15 September 1986) is an Indian professional squash player. She reached a career-high world ranking of World No. 10 in July 2016. She was the first Indian to win the British Junior Squash Championship title in 2005 in th ...
from India. Khan was not expected to be back until 2008, but she returned playing in September 2007. This had seen her rankings slide outside the top 200, but she won her fourth title in 2007, at the Iranian open, beating Donna Urquhart in the finals.
In 2008, Khan defeated England's
Emma Beddoes 9–2, 9–2, 9–0 to take the Austrian Open.
Khan then retired. She made a comeback in 2009.
However, unable to continue, she retired again and now has moved on to television presenting. She appeared on the ITV dating game show ''
Take Me Out
A take is a single continuous recorded performance. The term is used in film and music to denote and track the stages of production.
Film
In cinematography, a take refers to each filmed "version" of a particular shot or "setup". Takes of each s ...
'' in January 2011.
Personal life
Khan is the daughter of English mother, Jacqui Stoter, and Pakistani squash player father Wasil Khan. She is the granddaughter of
Azam Khan, second grand niece of
Roshan Khan
Roshan Khan (Pashto / ur, ; 26 November 1929 – 6 January 2006) was a squash player from Nawakille, Peshawar, Pakistan. He was one of the leading players in the game in the early-1960s, and won the British Open title in 1957. ,
Nasrullah Khan and
Hashim Khan
Hashim Khan ( ps, ; – 18 August 2014) was a squash player from Pakistan. He won the British Open Squash Championships (the then ''de facto'' world championship) a total of seven times, from 1951 to 1956, and then again in 1958. Khan ...
, niece of
Sharif Khan
Sharif Khan (born 1945) is a Pakistani-Canadian retired professional squash player. He is widely considered to be one of the all-time great players of hardball squash (a North American variant of squash played with a faster-moving ball and on sl ...
,
Rehmat Khan and
Aziz Khan, third cousin of actress Sasha Agha and
Natasha Khan
Natasha (russian: Наташа) is a name of Slavic origin. The Slavic name is the diminutive form of Natalia.
Notable people
* Natasha, the subject of '' Natasha's Story'', a 1994 nonfiction book
* Natasha Aguilar (1970–2016), Costa Rican s ...
(better known as
Bat for Lashes, a British singer-songwriter), and actress
Salma Agha is her second aunt.
References
External links
Carla Khan's official website*
*
Return to playing at Paktribune.comStarNow profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Carla
Living people
1981 births
English female squash players
English people of Pakistani descent
Pakistani female squash players
British sportspeople of Pakistani descent
Khan family (squash)