THE HASHIM FILES - PART 4



Hashim is on the right



If ever you thought it wasn’t that important to have the correct technique, then Hashim’s logic should debunk that theory. Of course, just being able to swing the racquet properly won’t make you a great player – there are many other factors that go into it. One of which you can do nothing about – your body. Hashim mentions that having the ‘right body type’ is important. Height included. However, Hashim is only 5 foot 4 inches tall; not exactly the ideal height for a world beater as dominant as he was.

Players today would tower over Hashim. Literally. Current world number one, James Willstrop is listed as 6 foot 4 inches, a full 12 inches taller. It would be difficult to imagine that no matter how fast Hashim was, he could make up one foot of reach. World number 2, Nick Matthew is 6 foot tall. In fact, of the current top ten, 5 of them are at least 6 foot, another 2 of them are listed as 5’ 11”. I don’t know if any one of the 432 players on the world ranking is as short as 5’ 4”. It just proves that Hashim must have had magnificent racquet skills as well as the uncanny ability to be able to read the game. It must have been like watching Yoda – the Jedi Knight – hobble up to the enemy with a walking stick, only to whip out his lightsaber and start zipping every which way at blinding speed, bouncing off the floors and walls, not only thwarting all attacks but using the Force to kill everything in the process, then slowly picking up his walking stick and hobbling away like nothing had happened. Except Hashim wasn’t green. Or had pointy ears.

To see all the blog articles on Hashim, go to: Hashim Kahn