Nicol Ann David (Datuk Nicol Ann David, DSPN) (born August 26, 1983 in Penang,Malaysia) is a Malaysian professionalsquash player. She is currently the World No. 1 in women's squash (she is the firstAsian woman to be ranked World No. 1 in the sport). She captured the World Opentitle in 2005, 2006 and 2008, and theBritish Open title in 2005, 2006 and 2008.
Nicol David is the first squash player to have won the World Junior title twice (1999 and 2000) under the tutelage ofRichard Glanfield. She remained the only female squash player to have achieved this, until Raneem El Weleily emulated David's feat by winning her second World Junior Championship in 2007. Nicol moved inexorably up the senior rankings to become a fixture in the top flight. At a very young age, she has been invited to carry the Olympic torch for Malaysia during the build up to the Athens Olympics in 2004 and being appointed a UN goodwill ambassador.
On December 4, 2005, Nicol beat Rachael Grinham in the final of the Hong Kong World Open to become the youngest world champion. She then defended her title on November 25, 2006, at the historic Ulster Hall in Belfast by beating Natalie Grinhamin the final. She became the first Malaysian athlete to win a world championship title for the 2nd consecutive time, and the fourth person in history to retain the World Open Squash Championship.
Nicol David's other notable achievements include the Asian squash championship, which she won with a record of six times (in 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008)[3]. She also held a 13-month, 51-match winning streak, from March 2006 to April 2007 when she finally lost to Natalie Grinham in the final of the 2007 Seoul Open. In today's standard of professional squash, which is regarded by many as being much more competitive than what it was decades ago, having a winning streakcomparable to this is an achievement not easily obtainable.
Nicol has risen in name after her near total dominance of the game in recent years. The Current Malaysian Prime MinisterDato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, a fellow Penangite, quipped once that David is "now more famous than me". Considering her young age, she is expected to remain the top female player in the game for a while to come.
1999
1999 is the year where Nicol start to win major junior tournaments. Major highlights included the British Junior Open (Under 17, Champion), the Asian Junior Champion for both individual and team events, the German Junior Open (Under 19, Champion), the SEA Games (Champion in the Senior and Team categories) and the British Junior Open Champion in the Under 19 category. But the year biggest win for Nicol was in the Women's World Junior Championships that is played inAntwerp. It took just half an hour for then the 15-year-old Malaysian schoolgirl to confirm the world junior champion status that has been prophesied for her for many years - when she beat compatriot Leong Siu Lynn 9/5 9/3 9/2 in the final of the women's individual event to become the youngest ever winner of the title. The remarkable youngster from Penangreached the quarter-finals of the previous World Junior Championships, in August 1997 in Brazil, as a thirteen-year-old - and has since claimed both the Asian junior and senior titles, as well as the gold medal in the Asian Games in December last year.
2000
Nicol joined WISPA in 2000 and she does not take long before winning her first WISPA tour title. Nicol's first WISPA tournament victory came in February, when he defeated Salma Shabana in the final of the Savcor Finnish Open with a score of 9-1, 9-0 and 9-5. Within a month, Hotel Equatorial announces its two years worldwide sponsorship for her.Nicol did also win sponsorship on the WISPA tour by Dunlop squash.
2001
In 2001, Nicol David, who has played under Dunlop Sport sponsorship for most of her junior career and burgeoning WISPA career, has signed a two-year deal to play with Head rackets with major local conglomerate Mulpha Sports.In July, Nicol David did what everybody expected her to do all along - to win the World Junior title for a second time. She did it with an ease that surprised everybody. She earns her second title by easily thumping Omneya Abdel Kawy in just 17 minutes with a score of 9-2, 9-4 and 9-2.
2002
2002 is the year where Nicol wins a surprise medal in the Commonwealth Games. Nicol together with her mixed double event partner Ong Beng Hee wins a historic silver medal for Malaysia after losing to Glen Wilson and Leilani Rorani in the final. Earlier in the year, Nicol beats Elin Bikra of Norway to win her second Kuala Lumpur Open title of her career.
2004
The Asian champion from Penang enjoyed an excellent run in the last month of the year 2004, reaching the final of the Shanghai WISPA WorldStars Championship and the semi-finals of the World Open, to rise two places to four in the January 2005 rankings.
2005
Malaysian squash star Nicol David is proving that everything she touches in 2005 turns to gold. Defeated only twice this year, the 21-year-old from Penang returned to her home country in July after winning the gold medal in the World Openin Germany – then created history by becoming the first local player to win the Women's CIMB Malaysian Open Squash Championship title in the prestigious event's 31-year history. In October, Nicol David proves that her success in the World Open and in the Malaysian Open was not a fake by becaming the first Malaysian to win a British Open title, and the first Asianto win the women's crown, when she beatAustralia's Natalie Grinham in the women's final in straight games – in 55 minutes.After winning this year's British Open andWorld Open within two months against the odds – and clinching next year's world number one ranking for the first time after the latter - Malaysian squash star Nicol David have been overwhelmingly voted by the fellow members of the Women's International Squash Players Associationas the WISPA Player of The Year for 2005.
2008
2008: Perfect WISPA Year: Ten Tour Titles – And Unbeaten! Nicol David has completed her most successful year to date – retaining her Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open title for the third successive year in November to bring her 2008 WISPA World Tour title total to ten, and extend her unbeaten Tour record since October 2007 to 53 matches! Furthermore, Nicol celebrated her second full calendar year as world number one in the December Women's World Squash Rankings – bringing her reign at the top of women's squash to 32 months. David's WISPA title successes in 2008 began with the Apawamis Open in New York in February, and continued with the KL Open on home soil in Malaysia, the British Open inEngland, Seoul Open in Korea, MalaysianOpen, Singapore Masters, Dutch Open,World Open in England, Qatar Classic and the Hong Kong Open. Away from the Tour, David secured her sixth successive biennial Asian Championship crown in February – after winning the first in July 1998 when aged just 14 - and this year led Malaysia to an unexpected bronze medal in the Women's World Team Championship in Cairo.
