Carla Khan

Carla Khan

Full name	Carla Khan
Country	Pakistan
Born	(1981-08-18) 18 August 1981 London, England
Residence	Karachi, Pakistan
Turned pro	1999
Retired	2009
Plays	Right Handed
Coached by	Mohammad Khalid
Racquet used	Head
Website	Carla Khan
Women's singles
Highest ranking	No. 21 (May 2004)
Current ranking	No. 194 (April 2010)
Title(s)	El Salvador Open 2002,Ottawa Open 2003, Pakistan Open 2005, Iranian Open 2007 and Austrian Open 2008
Tour final(s)	Islamic Games 2005, Swedish Open 2005
Updated on 2 March 2010.

Carla Khan (Urdu: کارلا خان) born 18 August 1981 in London) is a Pakistani professional squash player and is the granddaughter of Azam Khan, one of the legends of squash in Pakistan and daughter of Jacqui Stoter and Wasil Khan. She started playing squash in England at age 12. In her early life, her father Wasil Khan (a junior world champion) coached her in squash.

She has won five titles in her career, which are: El Salvador Open 2002, Ottawa Open 2003, Pakistan Open 2005 and Iranian Open 2007 and Austrian Open in 2008. Her highest ranking was 21st. Carla Khan's 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 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 Nicol David of Malaysia (who was ranked number 9 in the world at that time) on 15 April 2004, and achieved her highest ranking of 21. And in 2005, Carla 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. Carla never dropped a set throughout the whole tournament. Carla then 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 from India. Carla 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 Carla won her fourth title in 2007, Iranian open beating Donna Urquhart in the finals.

In 2008, Carla defeated England's Emma Beddoes 9–2, 9–2, 9–0 to take the Austrian Open. Carla Khan then retired. She made a come back in 2009. However, unable to continue she retired again and now has moved on to television presenting. Carla appeared on the ITV dating game show Take Me Out 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, Nasrullah Khan and Azam Khan, second niece of Sharif Khan, Rehmat Khan and Aziz Khan, third cousin of actress Sasha Agha and Natasha Khan (better known as Bat for Lashes, a British singer-songwriter), and actress Salma Agha is her second aunt.

External links

• Carla Khan Official Website
• Carla Khan at WISPA (archived)
• Carla Khan at Squash Info
• Interview at Squashtalk.com
• Return to playing at Paktribune.com
• Carla Khan – Interview with Squash Queen of Pakistan
• StarNow profile