Introduction of Sakhi Khan, presented by Sanjeev Jeyabalan E23, Member of Tufts Men's Squash Team
As a junior on the Tufts squash team, I have been so fortunate to practice and compete in the beautiful new Tufts Squash Center that opened in February 2020. As Coach Raho has explained to the team, the vision for this new facility was to help our squash programs win on the national stage and begin the journey back to the level of prominence that existed when our next Hall of Fame inductee played for the Jumbos.
Sakhi Khan was the most anticipated recruit in the history of Tufts squash. He was #1-ranked junior player in the United States when he enrolled at Tufts in 1980. And he had quite the impressive squash family pedigree -- he was a fourth-generation member of the Khan family squash dynasty. The Khan family had produced a succession of champion squash players who, in the aggregate, won 6 World Championships, 23 British Open championships, 16 North American Open titles, and 19 U.S. Professional Championships.
Needless to say, expectations were running quite high – and yet, during his four years at Tufts, Sakhi somehow managed to exceed them. During his first year, Sakhi helped lead the Jumbo squash team — in only its fifth year of existence — to a 6th-place finish in the country, which still stands as the best-ever final ranking for a Tufts squash team. Later in his Tufts career, Sakhi advanced all the way to the national collegiate individual championship match in 1983, losing by just a single point.
After taking a year off to play in the Pan-American Games, Sakhi finished his Tufts career as a four-time All-American who was consistently ranked among the top five players in the country. Before graduating from Tufts in 1985, Sakhi also managed to win the Massachusetts State Championships on three different occasions.
Richard Shapiro, who was Sakhi’s coach at Tufts, said this about Sakhi: "Sakhi was a leader and key figure in squash at Tufts, helping to put the program on the squash world map. He set the standard through hard work, dedication, and desire which served to motivate all his teammates. Sakhi continually tried to improve and become a better player and worked diligently to reach his maximum potential, which as his record indicates, was quite high.”
After Tufts, Sakhi competed on the World Professional Squash Tour and won the World Teaching Professional Championships twice. And his passion for the game led him to coach squash for 20 years at Colby College. With the Mules, Sakhi won numerous coaching awards, including NESCAC Women’s Coach of the Year, NESCAC Men’s Coach of the Year, and the Chafee Award, which honors a commitment to sportsmanship, teamwork, character, work ethic and improvement.
As a member of a renowned squash family who have been ambassadors of the sport for generations, Sakhi Khan has made his own indelible mark on the game as a player, coach, teacher and mentor.
