Michael "Mike" Oddy is a former 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 from Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. He was one of the game's leading players in the 1960s. He played in an era where the sport was dominated by great players from 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...

 (such as Azam Khan

Azam Khan (squash player)

Azam Khan is a former squash player from Pakistan who won the British Open four times between 1959 and 1962.Azam was introduced to squash by his older brother, Hashim Khan, who was also one of the world's top squash players in his time. After winning the British Open in 1951, Hashim recruited Azam...

, Roshan Khan

Roshan Khan

Roshan Khan was a squash player from Pakistan. He was one of the leading players in the game in the 1950s and early-1960s, and won the British Open title in 1957...

, Mo Khan and Aftab Jawaid

Aftab Jawaid

Aftab Jawaid is a former squash player from Pakistan, who was one of the game's leading players in the 1960s. He won the British Amateur championship three times , and finished runner-up at the British Open three times .- External links :*...

) and Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

 (such as A.A. AbouTaleb and Ibrahim Amin

Ibrahim Amin

-Career:In 1965, Amin finished runner-up at the British Open, losing 9–0, 0–9, 9–1, 9–6 in the final to fellow Egyptian player, A.A. AbouTaleb.-References:...

).

Oddy was one of the few British players to provide as consistent challenge to the dominant Asian and African players of his era. He was runner-up to A.A. AbouTaleb at the 1964 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...

(which was considered to be effective world championship of the sport at the time), and won the British Amateur Championship in 1960 and 1961.