Carla Khan

Carla Khan (Urdu: کارلا خان) born August 18, 1981 in London) is a Pakistani professional squash player.

She is the granddaughter of Azam Khan, one of the legends of squash in Pakistan and daughter of Wasil Khan, a junior world champion, who was also her coach. She started playing squash in England at age 12.

She has won three titles in her career, which are: El Salvador Open 2002, Ottawa Open 2003 and the Pakistan Open 2005. Her highest ranking was 21st.

Her current coach is Jeremy Colton.

Carla Khan's first tournament was at the prestigious British Open in 1999. After an unsuccessful first full season in 2000, she made the breakthrough the following year, but it was not until 2002 that Carla won her first title

In November 2002, at the El Salvador Open, she reached her first final against Mexican Samantha Teran. Carla went on to 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, 3-9, 4-9, 9-4, 9-7, 9-3. She broke into the top 30.

At the Irish Open in 2004, Carla defeated World number 1, Nicol David , and achieved her highest ranking of 21.

In 2005, she 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 of Malaysia 9-1, 9-3, 9-4. She never dropped a set throughout the whole tournament.

Carla ended the year making it to another final, at the Islamic Women's Games, but lost to Malaysian Tricia Chuah, 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. Carla was not expected to be back until 2008, but she is returned to playing on September 2007. This had seen her rankings slide outside the top 200.

In her first final since her injury, she beat Australian Donna Urquhart to clinch the Iran Open.

In 2008, she defeated England's Emma Beddoes 9-2, 9-2, 9-0 to take the Austrian Open.

External links

* [http://dev.squashinfo.com/player-316 Profile at squashinfo.com]
* [http://www.carlakhan.co.uk/home.php Carla Khan's Website]
* [http://www.squashtalk.com/html/news/dec05/news05-12-584.htm Interview]
* [http://www.paktribune.com/sports/newsdetail.php?nid=3575 Return to playing]