The fall & rise of Ross Norman

On 11 November 1986 Ross Norman ended the 5 year, 7 month unbeaten streak of Jahangir Khan when he triumphed in the final of the World Open at the Palais de Sports in Toulouse, France.

Norman needed seventy minutes of patient squash to win the first two games before Khan rallied and took the third, but the New Zealander came back to win 9-5 9-7 7-9 9-1 in 1h 50m to become the first and so far only male winner of the title.  

Shortly afterwards the now defunct Squash World publication produced a special edition titled ‘The Fall And Rise Of A World Champion’ charting Norman’s journey from a parachute accident to the title.

See it here.

(Jahangir Khan and Ross Norman talk about the match in their ‘My World Champion’ journey podcasts. Listen to them here https://www.squashlibrary.info/my-journey-podcasts, or via Spotify, Apple, and other platforms).