Datuk Nicol Ann David DB PJN DSPN KMN AMN (born August 26, 1983) is a retired female Malaysian professional squash player. Beginning in August 2006, David was the world number one for a record-breaking 108 consecutive months, finally ceding the ranking in September 2015 to Raneem El Weleily.[4] She has won the World Open title a record 8 times in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2014, as well as the British Open title in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2012 and 2014. In July 2016, she reached her 151st successive month in the top 10, breaking the record in both men's and women's categories. She surpassed Peter Nicol's previous records of 150 months.[5]
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 on 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.
Considered by some the greatest women's squash player,[6][7][8] David's other notable achievements include the Asian Squash Championship, which she won a record nine times (in 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2015). 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 WSA Player of the Year on seven occasions, 2005–2010 and 2012. In a poll conducted in 2018 by the Professional Squash Association (PSA), David was voted by fans as the greatest squash player of all-time in the women's category. In February 2019, Nicol announced her retirement plan, and decided to retire at the end of the 2018/2019 PSA season in June.[9][10] In another poll conducted by the World Games in 2021, David was crowned as the World Games Greatest Athlete of All Time with receiving a total of 318,943 votes and being the only Malaysian and Asian athlete among 24 candidates.[11][12]
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
UNDP Official Websitewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Nicol Ann David, WISPA – Squash player profile". WISPA. Retrieved 14 March 2010.
- ^ a b c d "Nicol Ann David, Psa World Tour – Squash player profile". psaworldtour.com. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
- ^ "Squash Queen Nicol David Writes Her Name in History as Longest-Reigning World No. 1". kridangan. 25 June 2015.
- ^ "Nicol David Sets Historic Record Ranking Run". World Squash. 1 July 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
- ^ Newbery, Piers (21 May 2013). "Ramy Ashour - the world's greatest racquet-sport player?". BBC Sport. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
- ^ "Nicol David is World Champion Again". HuffPost UK. 9 January 2013.
- ^ "Nicol David to be Inducted into WSF Hall of Fame | World Squash". Archived from the original on 6 January 2014. Retrieved 6 January 2014.
- ^ "Squash queen Nicol David to hang up racquet". Malaysiakini. 19 February 2019. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
- ^ "A new beginning for Nicol Ann David". The Malaysian Reserve. 6 January 2020. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
- ^ Guan, Kng Zheng (1 February 2021). "Malaysia's Nicol David named Greatest Athlete of All Time | New Straits Times". NST Online. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
- ^ "IWGA The World Games Greatest Athlete of All Time". www.theworldgames.org. Retrieved 27 March 2021.