How could you not have Jahangir as the clear #1? Over five years without a loss! The only other guy with a record like that is Heather McKay (just kidding!!!). Amazing...

there's no doubt that jahangir is the best ever.

It's impossible to compare players of different eras. All you can really do is compare their records. All the players of different eras had different circumstances and competition to deal with, who is to say that Jahangir and Jansher would be just as dominant now as what they were when they were active? The depth of players now is so much better than back then, every round is tough. This debate could go on forever and you would never have a clear solution.

Please note, Farang, that Peter Nicol has won TWO British Opens. Also, Nicol and Power were deprived of the opportunity to win two further World Opens as the tournament was not played in 2000 or 2001.

By the way, Ross Norman - who played both Jahangir and Jansher in their prime - reckons that Jahangir was slightly the better player.

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Replying to:

Rodney Martin and others, played in the Jahangir/Jansher era. Yes they were good but they weren't better than Jansher or Jahangir. Look at their tournament victories and head to head to matches and you will see that they weren't in the same class.
Gamal Awad played in the Geoff Hunt and Jehangir Khan period and yes he was a very good squash player but not good enough to beat them. That logic would also apply to Qamar Zaman.
As far as Peter Nicol and Jonathon Power, they might be good players today but they do not dominate the sport. Both have won the world open once and the Britsih Open once. Does that merit them to be included in the consideration for the all time greats. I don't think so.

Ok my mistake about the number of British Open's that Nicol has won. The fact that the world open was not held for two years in a row does not guarentee anything. It was not a sure thing that Nicol would have won those.
As far as should Jehangir or Jansher be the best ever, I am pretty torn about that. I think that Jahangir might have a slight edge but the head to head competition between them, Jansher has a better record, Jehangir has won more British Opens but Jansher has won more World Opens so it is really a toss up and is a matter of opinion.
As to what someone else mentioned about comparing eras and would Jansher and Jahangir be as dominant today, the answer is yes they would absolutely dominate today and the field these days has the same depth as when they were playing.

How can you possibly suggest that the depth back then is the same as what it is now? Back then you could pick out who would win each match, who would reach the semis, the finals, with a high probability of being right. Upsets were far and few between. Today, it's a crap-shoot.

Jansher and Jehangir are no doubt a couple of the best players ever to grace the court, but it's not possible to suggest that their dominance would be the same today with the amount of good players around.

I quite agree with you. Just look at the number of players that are playing and the wide range of nations that are represented now. There is definitely more depth in this era.

I think again the idea of comparing someone from the past with contemporary players is some what not so right.Now anyone can beat anyone,no guaranee at all ,No doubt Jehangir ,jansher , Hunt ,Barrington are all great players .But also nicol , Palmer,power ,shabana & many more.
But how can we say that Hashim Khan or Abdelfattah Amr Basha are great if we didn't see them?
And how can we compare ?

In alphabetical order!!!

Chris Truswell
Jaymie Haycocks
Jonny Harford
Phil Nightingale
Steve Coppinger