Chris Dittmar
Encyclopedia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n sports commentator who was formerly the World No. 1-ranked men's squash
Squash (sport)
Squash is a high-speed racquet sport played by two players in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball...
player.
Dittmar is widely-considered to be the "best player never to have won" one of squash's two biggest titles. He finished runner-up at the World Open five times – in 1983, 1987, 1989, 1990 and 1992 – and was runner-up at the British Open
British Open Squash Championships
The British Open Squash Championships is the oldest and most established tournament in the game of squash. It is widely considered to be one of the two most prestigious tournaments in the game, alongside the World Open The British...
twice – in 1985 and 1993.
Dittmar was perhaps unlucky to have been around during the same era as two great Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
i players – Jahangir Khan
Jahangir Khan
Jahangir Khan, HI, is a former World No. 1 professional squash player from Pakistan, who is considered by many to be the greatest player in the history of the game. During his career he won the World Open six times and the British Open a record ten times...
and Jansher Khan
Jansher Khan
Jansher Khan is a former World No. 1 professional squash player from Pakistan, who is widely considered to be one of the greatest squash players of all time. During his career he won the World Open a record eight times, and the British Open six times.Jansher is of Peshwari ethnicity. He came from...
. Dittmar provided probably the most consistent challenge of any player to the dominance of these two greats during the 1980s and early-1990s, but never quite managed to break their iron grip on the game. In all seven of the World Open and British Open finals he played in, Dittmar lost to one of the two Khans. There were several occasions in his career when Dittmar managed to beat one of the Khans in a semi-final round, only to lose to the other in the final. Dittmar won what is remembered as a one of the sport's classic matches against Jahangir Khan in the semi-finals of the 1989 World Open in Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...
, taking the fifth set 15-13. The following day in the final, he took a two set lead against Jansher, but tired as the long match wore on and eventually lost in five sets.
Dittmar has claimed that the proudest moment of his career came in captaining the Australian team to victory in World Team Squash Championships
World Team Squash Championships
The World Team Squash Championships are an international squash competition played between teams representing different nations. Countries enter teams of three or four players to represent them in the championships. In each round of the competition, teams face each other in a best-of-three singles...
in 1989. Australia beat Pakistan 3-0 in the final, with Dittmar contributing a win over Jahangir Khan. Two years later in 1991, Dittmar captained the Australian team which successfully defended the title.
Prior to turning professional, Dittmar was runner-up at the World Junior Championships in both 1980 and 1982, and won the British Open Junior Championship in 1981. During his junior years, Dittmar was so good that he was able to beat an opponent quite easily with a broken leg
Dittmar won several professional titles, including three Australian Opens, three Canadian Opens, three European Opens, three New Zealand Opens, and two South African Opens. His consistency helped him briefly capture the World No. 1 ranking shortly before he retired as a player in 1993. He was ranked No. 2 and No. 3 for much longer periods.
Dittmar was known for being very forthright in expressing his views as a player during his career, and represented his fellow players as President of the International Squash Players Association for several years.
Dittmar served as Patron of Squash Australia from 2002 to 2005. He was inducted into the Squash Australia Hall of Fame in 2005.
Since retiring as a squash player, Dittmar has worked as a sports commentator for Australia's Channel Seven
Seven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
and as an Australian Football League
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...
commentator for Adelaide AM Radio station FIVEaa
FIVEaa
5AA , is 50% owned by dmg Radio Australia and Lachlan Murdoch's company Illyra, and Adelaide's only commercial talkback radio station. The station has a range of programs including news, sport, current affairs, social issues, gardening, lifestyle, cars, travel and health...
. He also regularly hosts the FIVEaa soccer
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
show on Sunday evenings.
Dittmar suffered a small brain haemorrhage requiring hospitalisation in July 2009.
Family
Chris comes from a well-known sports family in Adelaide. His father played Australian rules footballAustralian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
for Port Adelaide Football Club
Port Adelaide Football Club
The Port Adelaide Football Club is an Australian rules football club based in Alberton, South Australia, which plays in the Australian Football League and the South Australian National Football League...
. His uncle Wally also played for Port Adelaide and represented South Australia in State of Origin
Interstate matches in Australian rules football
Australian rules football matches between teams representing Australian colonies/states and territories have been held since 1879. For most of the 20th century, the absence of a national club competition and international matches meant that football games between state representative teams were...
Football. And his uncle Len was crowned the Australian welterweight
Welterweight
Welterweight is a weight class division in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like kickboxing, taekwondo and mixed martial arts also began to use it for their own weight division system...
boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
champion in the 1950s.
Chris attended St Michael's College, Adelaide
St Michael's College, Adelaide
St Michael's College is a Lasallian Catholic school in the western suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia. The college consists of two campuses; a primary campus at Beverley for Years Reception to 7, and a secondary campus at Henley Beach for Years 8 to 12...
.