Malaysian Women inside the Top 50
Nicol David (Rank: 1)
Nicol David is the most successful Malaysian female squash player of all time. In a glittering junior career, the Penang-born star won the Women’s World Junior title in style in Belgium in June 1999, then became the first person ever to claim the title for a second time- beating her great rival Omneya Abdel Kawy in the final in her home town of Penang two years later in 2001. She moved inexorably up the senior rankings to become a fixture in the top flight. For one so young the accolades keep coming, including being 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.
Perhaps the main plank which completed the building of an athletic retriever into a rounded tactician was a move to Amsterdam in 2003 to be based with former star Liz Irving. Results slowly picked up until in 2004 she reached the World Open semi final in her home country. A year later she won the British Open then beat Rachael Grinham in the World Open final in December 2005 to claim the title and send the Malaysian media into overdrive. The country’s Prime Minister exclaimed that the small ever smiling star was more famous than he was!
The headlines continued unabated when she took over as world number one in the January 2006 rankings. The momentum slackened under the weight of awards and other distractions in early 2006, with top ranking being lost in April, but on the back of further Tour wins she regained the number one ranking in August 2006.
The following months were spent cementing this position with six Tour titles in a row, including a second British Open crown and a second World Open title won in Belfast in November 2006. It wasn't until April 2007 that her thirteen month fifty one match unbeaten streak came to an end when Natalie Grinham beat her in the final of the Seoul Open. But she has since followed that defeat with a further three titles on the roll – the CIMB Malaysian Open, CIMB Singapore Masters and in September the Forexx Dutch Open.
However, a match ball squandered at 2/1 up in the final of the British Open was costly as she lost that match to Rachael Grinham, and then relinquished her hold on the World Open crown when she was beaten by New Zealander Shelley Kitchen in the last 16, the first time she had failed to make a WISPA last eight for the first time since April 2004, a run of 36 events.
But these blips were put behind her when she took the last two events of the year the Qatar Classic and Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open; and then opened her 2008 account by winning the first four events she entered, including regaining her British Open crown and the Seoul Open title. The CIMB Malaysian Open, CIMB Singapore masters and Forexx Dutch Open completed the unbeaten nine events in a row.
But by the end of the year she had been unbeaten in 53 matches, won twelve Tour titles in a row, including regaining the World Open crown in October in Manchester, England, and completed 30 months in world number one spot. Not a bad run!
Small and slight, the girl nicknamed the Duracell Bunny is certainly spellbindingly fast, a great retriever, but also now a fully rounded attacking force too. She threatens to take a strong grip on the top ranking for a while to come.
Sharon Wee (Rank: 23)
Sharon, the Malaysian number two, has worked hard on her game, training in Belgium under Shaun Moxham, and this has seen her reach the top twenty, and during 2007 hold her own in the lower reaches of it.
During 2007 she reached the finals of 4 events & won her first WISPA title in November in the NSC Tour 10 No 2 in KL.
Delia Arnold (Rank: 26)
Pretty. Delia Arnold currently lives in Selangor and was coached by Ahmed Malik and Peter Genever. She reached a career-high world ranking of World No. 32 in December 2008. The Malaysian No. 3 squash player began the year 2008 at 48th spot in the world rankings. More than 10 months later, she is up at the 34th spot. That has whetted her appetite and the 22-year-old is bent on breaking into the top-30 by the end of 2008. Delia’s best achievement to date came in August 2008 when she stunned world No 14 Rebecca Chiu from Hong Kong in the final to bag the NSC Satellite No. 2 title.
Low Wee Wern (Rank: 37)
Up and coming star. Watch out for her!
