NICOL DAVID

'Nicol Ann David' (Datuk Nicol Ann David, DSPN) (born August 26, 1983 in Penang, Malaysia) is a Malaysian professional squash player. She is currently the World No. 1 in women's squash (she is the first Asian woman to be ranked World No. 1 in the sport). She captured the World Open title in 2005 and 2006, and the British 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 of Richard 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.
On December 4, 2005, she beat Rachael Grinham in the final of the Hong Kong World Open to become the youngest world champion. On November 25, 2006, at the historic Ulster Hall in Belfast, she has defended her World Open title in 2006 by beating Natalie Grinham in 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 championship.
David's other titles include the Asian squash championship, which she won with a record of five times (in 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006).
She 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 streak comparable to this is an achievement not easily obtainable.
Nicol has been training in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, since she was 18, when she finished her Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (equavalent to the British GCSE 'O' levels) examination, scoring 7As.
Small and slight, the girl nicknamed the "Duracell Bunny" is extremely quick on her feet, a great retriever as well as an aggressive attacking player. Considering her young age, she is expected to remain the top female player in the game for a while to come.
Nicol David was also named WISPA Player of The Year for 2005 as she won six WISPA titles, as well as the World Games gold medal and the World Open title. David has risen in name after her near total dominance of the game in recent years. The Current Malaysian Prime Minister Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, a fellow Penangite, quipped once that David is "now more famous than me".
Nicol David, 24, has been honoured with the "Order of Merit" in conjunction with the birthday of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin Saturday June 7, 2008. She becomes the first recipient of the award which was established on June 26, 1975 and is limited to 10 recipients who have made significant contributions in arts, science and humanity.
On July 12, 2008, Malaysian squash queen Nicol Ann David was among 497 honoured in conjunction with the 70th birthday of the Penang Yang Dipertua Negeri Tun Abdul Rahman Abbas. The Penang-born Nicol, who at the time is the World No. 1 squash player, is among 28 people who received the Darjah Setia Pangkuan Negeri (DSPN) which carries the title "Datuk" making her the youngest person in Penang to be conferred Datukship.
-Bernama-