Nicol prioritises
FACED with an increasing number of challengers, Nicol David has decided to skip the Asian Championship in a bid to boost her hopes of winning a record ninth World Open title.
NICOL David is skipping the Asian Individual Squash Championships for a second time in three editions to give the Women’s World Championship her utmost priority.
The Asian Championships in Chennai on Apr 26-30 follows less than two weeks after the end of the world meet on Apr 14 in El Gouna, Egypt with Nicol also committed to playing in Colombia next week and the British Open later this month.
Nicol, the last of whose eight world titles came in December 2014, wants to regain the world crown she conceded on home soil in April last year when she lost to eventual champion Nour El Sherbini.
That means the Asian Championships, which Nicol has won nine times, does not figure in her plans, Squash Racquets Association of Malaysia director of coaching Mej (rtd) S. Maniam has confirmed.
“We have not finalised the list of players for the Asian Championships but I can confirm that Nicol will not be playing,” he told
Timesport. “We will name the four men and four women for the tournament in due time.”
World No 7 Nicol’s absence in Chennai means Malaysia will field their weakest women’s squad in two decades following the retirement of Delia Arnold and with Low Wee Wern out injured.
Nicol also skipped the 2013 Asian Championships, when Wee Wern lost to Hong Kong’s Annie Au in the final, but returned in 2015 to take the title off Annie in the final.
The list of women’s players for Chennai will likely be led by national junior S. Sivasangari, who at 47th in the world, is the country’s highest-ranked player after Nicol and Wee Wern.
The men’s squad is expected to include World No 30 Nafiizwan Adnan, the 2011 Asian champion, and Ivan Yuen, who rose to a career-high ranking of 40th this month on the back of reaching the Pittsburgh Open final.
Nicol, meanwhile, heads to Floridablanca, Colombia for her next tournament starting on Wednesday after again going down to Egyptian World No 1 Nour at the Windy City Open in Chicago.
The former World No 1 is seeded second behind American Amanda Sobhy in Floridablanca and vowed to continue fighting following her loss to Nour which extended her run of PSA Tour events without reaching the final to 12 tournaments.
“Fought hard against World No. 1 @noursherbini but disappointed to lose 3-1. Top quality squash all round. Will keep fighting!” Nicol, 33, posted on Twitter after her exit in Chicago.