Jahangir Khan honoured among greatest sportsmen of millennium by UN

Rating Justification

The iVerify Pakistan team has reviewed this content and determined that it is false.

To reach this conclusion, the iVerify Pakistan team contacted Pakistan squash legend Jahangir Khan to corroborate the matter.

Various Pakistani news outlets reported since August 23, 2024, that squash legend Jahangir Khan was honoured by the UN with his inclusion in a list of the millennium’s greatest athletes. However, the athlete said he was unaware of any such list and not contacted in this regard by the UN.

Jahangir Khan is a former squash player who is known to be one of the greatest sportsmen in Pakistan’s history. He won the World Open title six times, and the British Open title ten times before retiring in 1993.

HOW IT STARTED

On August 23, media outlet Express News uploaded a video on its YouTube account titled: “United Nations declares Jahangir Khan as one of the finest player in thousand years”.

According to the news report, the UN included the squash athlete in a list of the best sportsmen of the past 1,000 years. However, the report did not provide further details about the alleged UN report such as its title, link or publish date.

On August 24, news outlet Daily Pakistan published a report titled: “UN includes squash legend Jahangir Khan among best players of 1,000 years”.

The news story reported the same details as the Express News video and also did not provide details of the alleged UN list.

Media outlet Hum News English also published a similar report on August 26 titled: “Jahangir Khan honoured among greatest sportsmen of millennium by UN”.

Media outlet GNN also shared the news in a graphic on its Instagram account on August 29.

METHODOLOGY

A fact check was initiated to verify the claim due to the fact that multiple news outlets were sharing the significant alleged development about a Pakistani athlete being recognised by the UN for his accomplishments without citing any source.

Furthermore, senior sports journalist Faizan Lakhani seemingly cast doubt on the alleged development and said he could not find any relevant UN list.

Reaching out to the squash legend himself on whether he was aware of any such list or was approached by the UN regarding it, he responded: “I have not received any such [information or about] like this … this is only going viral.

“No one contacted me. I have also been looking at this on social media and receiving messages [about it].”

A separate investigation also yielded no UN list of this sort or any list remotely similar to it.

FACT CHECK STATUS: FALSE

The claim regarding legendary squash player Jahangir Khan being enlisted in a UN list of the best sportsmen in the past 1,000 years is false.

The veteran athlete himself confirmed that there was no substance to the reports, he was not contacted by anyone regarding it and he himself got to know about it through social media.

Evidence and References