Datuk Nicol Ann David ialah seorang pemain skuasy profesional wanita berbangsa Malaysiayang menjadi wanita Asia pertama yang menduduki tangga #1 dunia dalam sukan skuasy wanita. Beliau pernah memenangi gelaran Terbuka British pada tahun 2005, 2006 dan 2008, dan juga gelaran Terbuka Dunia pada tahun 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009 dan 2010. Nicol merupakan pemain skuasy pertama yang menjuarai Kejohanan Skuasy Junior Seduniadua kali; iaitu pada tahun 1999 dan 2001 di bawah bimbingan Richard Glanfield. Beliau kekal satu-satunya pemain skuasy wanita yang berbuat demikian, sehingga Raneem El Weleilymenyamai pencapaian beliau ini dengan memenangi Kejohanan Junior Sedunia keduanya pada tahun 2007. Nicol menyertai WISPA lalu mencapai status profesional pada tahun 2000 apabila memenangi gelaran WISPA sulungnya hanya sebulan selepas penyertaannya itu. Kemenangan itu tercapai pada bulan Februari apabila beliau menewaskan Salma Shabana di pusingan akhir Terbuka Finland Savcor. Pada 7 Jun 2008, Nicol David dikurniakan gelaran Darjah Bakti sempena hari keputeraan Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin. Nicol turut diundang untuk membawa obor Olimpik untuk Malaysia sewaktu persediaan ke Sukan Olimpik di Athens pada tahun 2004 di samping dilantik sebagai Duta Muhibah Kebangsaan Malaysia oleh UNDP. Antara pencapaian lain Nicol David termasuk Kejohanan Skuasy Asia yang dijuarainya tujuh kali (1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008 dan 2010). Beliau juga mempertahankan tempoh kejuaraan demi kejuaraan selama 13 bulan dan 51 perlawanan mulai Mac 2006, hingga tewas di tangan Natalie Grinham di Terbuka Seoul pada April 2007. Bagaimanapun, beliau sekali lagi membuat rentetan tanpa kalah selama Nicol turut meraih Pemain Terbaik WISPA enam kali berturut-turut, dari tahun 2005 hingga 2010.

[sunting]Kehidupan peribadi Dilahirkan di Pulau Pinang, Nicol merupakan anak kepada Ann Marie David, seorang guru sekolah berketurunan Cina dan Desmond David, seorang jurutera berketurunan India[3][4] yang pernah menjadi olahragawan dan pemain bola sepak negeri.[5][6] Nicol mempunyai dua adik-beradik, iaitu Lianne dan Cheryl,[7] yang merupakan pemain skuasy cemerlang di peringkat kebangsaan.[8] [9]

Sewaktu muda, Nicol paling cemerlang dalam mata pelajaran Matematik di sekolah;[9] beliau pernah bercita-cita menjadi jurutera. Nicol mendapat tujuh A dalamPenilaian Menengah Rendah dan tujuh A lagi dalam Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia, sewaktu menelaah

di Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Convent Green Lane di Green Lane, Pulau Pinang.[10] Beliau beragama Kristian (Katolik Roma). [sunting]Anugerah dan penghormatan Pada 7 Jun 2008, Nicol David dikurniakan gelaran Darjah Bakti (D.B.)[11] sempena sambutan hari keputeraan Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin.[12] Beliau merupakan penerima pertama anugerah ini yang diasaskan pada 26 Jun 1975.[12]

Anugerah ini terhad kepada 10 penerima yang melakukan sumbangan besar kepada bidang kesenian, sains dan kemanusiaan.

[11][12]

Pada 12 Julai 2008, Nicol menjadi salah satu daripada 497 orang yang diberi penghormatan sempena hari jadi ke-70 Yang diPertua Negeri Pulau Pinang, Tun Abdul Rahman Abbas.[13]Nicol merupakan antara 28 orang yang menerima Darjah Setia Pangkuan Negeri award (DSPN),[14] yang membawa gelaran Datuk, justeru beliau menjadi tokoh termuda yang dikurniakan gelaran Datuk di negeri Pulau Pinang.[13] Perdana Menteri Malaysia ketika itu, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi yang juga berasal dari Pulau Pinang,[15] pernah mengakui bahawa Nicol lebih terkenal daripadanya.[5] Pada tahun 2007, Nicol menerima ijazah kehormat Sarjana Kesenian honoris causa dari Universiti Nottingham.[10] Nicol turut menerima anugerah Pemain Terbaik WISPA enam kali berturutturut, mulai tahun 2005 hingga 2010.[16][17] Nicol diberi penghormatan membawa obor Olimpik sebagai wakil Malaysia menjelang Sukan Olimpik Athens 2004,[18][19] di samping dilantik sebagai Duta Muhibah Kebangsaan Malaysia oleh Program Pembangunan Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu.[20] [sunting]Kerjaya

[sunting]Sebelum 2000: Zaman junior

Nicol Ann David di Terbuka Malaysia CIMB 2008 di Kuala Lumpur. Nicol David mula bermain skuasy sewaktu berusia lima tahun, kemudian menerima bimbingan jurulatih sejak usia lapan tahun.[9]

Ketika berlatih di Pusat Skuasy Bukit Dumbar, bakat Nicol ditemui oleh Ee Phoeh Hoon,[21] yang kemudiannya memujuk pemudi

ini supaya mewakili negeri asalnya, Pulau Pinang, bersama adik-beradiknya.[8] Kerjaya skuasy Nicol bermula pada tahun 1992, apabila beliau menggondol pingat perak dalam kategori Bawah-14 Kejohanan Junior Negeri Pulau Pinang.[22] Juga pada tahun 1992, beliau mendapat kemenangan sulungnya di peringkat kebangsaan di Kejohanan Antara Negeri Junior Kebangsaan MiloDunlop Sport, di mana beliau mendapat pingat perak dalam kategori Bawah-16.[22] Pada tahun 1994, Nicol dipilih untuk menyertai pasukan skuasy negeri Pulau Pinang untuk temasya Sukan Malaysia, apabila beliau membantu skuad negeri menggondol pingat emas dalam acara pasukan, walaupun jatuh sakit ketika itu.[4] Pada tahun yang sama, beliau meraih dua gelaran antarabangsa pertamanya, iaitu Hong Kong Bawah-13 dan Terbuka Junior Scotland Bawah-12.[22] Nicol menjuarai Kejohanan Skuasy Junior Sedunia Wanita 1999 di Antwerp, Belgium, menjadikannya pemain perempuan termuda yang menjadi juara dunia remaja pada usia 15 tahun.[23] Yang menariknya, beliau menumpaskan tiga orang pemain yang berada dalam tangga 20 teratas dalam kejohanan itu.[23] Beliau berjaya mempertahankan gelaran itu di Pulau Pinang pada tahun 2001, oleh itu beliau merupakan satu daripada dua pemain sahaja yang menjuarainya dua kali sepanjang sejarah skuasy;[24][25] ketika itu, beliau dilatih oleh Richard Glanfield.[26] Pada tahun 1999, Nicol semakin rancak menjuarai kejohanan remaja utama, termasuk Terbuka Junior British (juara Bawah-17),[27]

Terbuka Junior Jerman (juara Bawah-19),[4] Sukan SEA (Juara kategori Senior dan Pasukan),[4] dan Juara Junior Asia untuk

acara individu dan pasukan.[28] Nicol melakar kejayaan terbesarnya sebagai jaguh remaja di Kejohanan Junior Sedunia di Antwerp, di mana murid sekolah berumur 15 tahun ini mencapai taraf juara junior dunia setelah menewaskan rakan seperjuangan, Leong Siu Lynn 95, 93, 92 di pusingan akhir acara perseorangan wanita, sekaligus menjadi juara termuda kejohanan itu.[4][23] Nicol mencapai pusingan suku akhir Kejohanan Junior Sedunia yang sebelumnya pada Ogos 1997 di Brazil, ketika berusia 13 tahun. Semenjak itu, beliau merangkul kejuaraan junior dan senior Asia, dan juga pingat emas di Sukan Asia pada Disember 1998.[23] Nicol juga merupakan antara sebilangan kecil pemain skuasy yang pernah memenangi kesemua kategori umur di Terbuka Junior British.[27] Dato' Nicol Ann David is a Malaysian female professional squash player. She is currently ranked world number 1 in women's squash, and is the first Asian woman to achieve this. She won the British Open title in 2005, 2006 and 2008, as well as the World Open title a record 6 times, in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. David is the first squash player to have won the World Junior title twice; in 1999 and 2001 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. David joined WISPA and turned professional in 2000 when she won her first WISPA title, after only a month in the tour. The victory came in February, when she defeated Salma Shabana in the final of the Savcor Finnish Open. On 7 June 2008, David was honoured with the Order of Merit (Darjah Bakti) or D.B. in conjunction with the birthday of the His Majesty Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin. She was the first recipient of the award which was established on 26 June 1975. David was also invited to carry the Olympic torch for Malaysia during the build up to the Athens Olympics in 2004 and being appointed as UNDP National Goodwill Ambassador for Malaysia. David's other notable achievements include the Asian Squash Championship, which she won a record eight times (in 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2011). She also held a 13-month, 51-match winning streak, from March 2006 until April 2007,

when she finally lost to Natalie Grinham in the final of the 2007 Seoul Open. David has also obtained the WISPA Player of the Year on six consecutive occasions, from 2005 until 2010.

[edit]Personal life David is the daughter of Ann Marie David, a retired Malaysian Chinese school teacher, and Desmond David, a Malaysian Indian[4] engineer,[5] who is also a former state athlete and footballer.[6][7] She has two sisters, Lianne and Cheryl,[8] both of whom are accomplished squash players at the national level.[9] As a youngster, mathematics was David's best subject at school;[1] she dreamed of one day becoming an engineer.[1] Her primary education was at Sekolah Kebangsaan Convent Green Lane(Convent Green Lane Primary School). David scored seven A's for her Penilaian Menengah Rendah and obtained seven A's in her Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (the equivalent to GCSE), which she studied at Convent Green Lane Secondary School in Green Lane, Penang.[10][11]

She was raised a Roman Catholic.[citation needed]

[edit]Awards and recognition On 7 June 2008, David was honoured with the Order of Merit (Darjah Bakti) or D.B.[12] in conjunction with the birthday of His Majesty Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin.[13] She was the first recipient of the award which was established on 26 June 1975.[13] The award is limited to 10 recipients who have made significant contributions in the arts, sciences and the humanities.[12][13] On 12 July 2008, David was among 497 people honoured in conjunction with the 70th birthday of the Penang State Governor Tun Abdul Rahman Abbas.[14] David was also one of the 28 people who received the Darjah Setia Pangkuan Negeri award (DSPN),[15]

which carries the title Datuk, making her the youngest person ever to be conferred Datukship in Penang.[14] The former Prime

Minister of Malaysia Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, a fellow Penangite,[16] once quipped that David is "now more famous than me".[6]

In July 2007, David received Master of Arts honoris causa; an honorary degree by the University of Nottingham.[10] David has also

obtained the WISPA Player of the Year on six consecutive occasions, from 2005 until 2010.[17] David was given the honour of carrying the Olympic torch for Malaysia during the build up to the Athens Olympics of 2004,[18][19] and was appointed UNDP National Goodwill Ambassador for Malaysia.[20] [edit]Squash career [edit]Pre2000: Junior years

Nicol Ann David during CIMB Malaysian Open Squash 2008 in Kuala Lumpur. David played squash when she was five years old, and received coaching at the age of eight.[1]While training at the Bukit Dumbar Squash Centre, David was talent spotted by Ee Phoeh Hoon,[21] who led her to represent her home state of Penang, along with her sisters.[9] David's squash career began in 1992 when she won silver in the Under-14 category of the Penang State Junior Championship.[22] Her first national level victory was also in 1992 at the Milo-Dunlop SportNational Junior Interstate Championship, where she won silver in the Under-16 category.[22] In 1994, David was chosen to join the Penang state squash team for the Malaysian Games(SUKMA) tournament where she helped Penang win a gold medal in the team event, despite being ill at the time.[5] In the same year, she won her first two international titles the Hong Kong U-13 and the Scottish Junior Open Under-12.[22] David won the Women's World Junior Squash Championships of 1999 in Antwerp, Belgium, making her the youngest woman to become the world junior champion at the age of 15.[23] In the process, she defeated three players ranked in the world top 20.[23] She successfully defended the title in Penang in 2001, becoming one of only two players in the history of squash to have won it twice;[24][25]

her coach was Richard Glanfield.[26]

In 1999, David began to win major junior tournaments, including the British Junior Open (Under-17 champion),[27] the German Junior Open (Under-19, Champion),[5] the SEA Games (Champion in the Senior and Team categories),[5] and the Asian Junior Champion for both individual and team events.[28] David's biggest win, however, was the World Junior Championships, played in Antwerp. It took just half an hour for the then 15-yearold Malaysian schoolgirl to obtain world junior champion status when she beat compatriot Leong Siu Lynn 95, 93 and 92 in the final of the women's individual event to become the youngest ever winner of the title.[5][23] David reached the quarterfinals 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 1998.[23] David also is one of a few squash player to have won all the age categories in the British Junior Open.[27] [edit]20002004: Early professional career Nicol David and New Zealander Shelley Kitchen during the 2007 CIMB Malaysian Open. David joined WISPA and turned professional in 2000[5][29] when she won her first WISPA title, after only a month in the tour.[30] The victory came in February, when she defeated Salma Shabana in the final of the Savcor Finnish Open with a score of 91, 90 and 95.[30] Within a month, Hotel Equatorial announced its two year worldwide sponsorship for her.[28] David also won a sponsorship on the WISPA tour by Dunlop squash.[22] In 2001, David, who has played under Dunlop Sport sponsorship for most of her junior career and WISPA career, signed a two-year deal to play with Head rackets with local conglomerate Mulpha Sports.[31] In July, David won the World Junior title for a second time, beating Omneya Abdel Kawy in just 17 minutes with a score of 92, 94 and 92 in the final.[25] She remained the only female squash player to have achieved this until 2007, when Raneem El Weleily won her second World Junior Championship.[24][32] David also won the individual event in the Asian Junior Squash Championships by defeating her compatriot Tricia Chuah in the final with a score of 95, 96 and 90; and helped the Malaysian team to the team event title.[33] In 2002 David, together with her mixed double event partner Ong Beng Hee, won a Commonwealth Games silver medal for Malaysia after losing to Glen Wilson and Leilani Rorani in the final.[34]Earlier in the year, David defeated Ellen Petersen of Denmark with a score of 92, 97, 810, 94 to win the second Kuala Lumpur Open title of her career.[35] David failed to retain her Asian Games gold medal in 2002, when she lost 97, 95 and 97 to Rebecca Chiu of Hong Kong in the final in Busan, South Korea.[36] David was the losing finalist twice in 2003, losing to the more experienced Cassie Jackman on her home ground and then to Linda Elriani in the Monte Carlo Classic in November.[37] She reached the semi-final of the World Open in Hong Kong, losing to Cassie Jackman with a score of 96, 93, 94 in the final.[38] David did not perform well in the other major WISPA events; she was eliminated in the first round of the Carol Weymuller US Open,[39] in the British Open[40] and in the Texas Open.[41] In the Qatar Classic Open, David lost in the second round toNatalie Grinham with a score of 92, 79, 90 and 94.[42] In 2004 David again failed to win any title. Her achievements included getting into the final of both the Kuala Lumpur Open[43] and theMalaysian Open.[44] David started to progress in the very last month of the year by reaching the final of the Shanghai WISPA WorldStars Championship[45] and the semi-finals of the World Open,[46] to rise two places to number four in the January 2005 WISPA rankings.[47]