No luck of the draw
Nicol has to tread difficult path in World Championships
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s top squash player Nicol David faces an uphill task to end the year on a high following a tough draw at the World Championships in Manchester.
The eight-time world champion has struggled in the last two years with the emergence of Egyptian players.
Nicol, who ruled as the world No. 1 for nine straight years from 2006-2015, only has one title under her belt this year – the Ciudad de Floridablanca Open in Colombia in March.
But the 34-year-old still managed to perform consistently to stay at No. 6 in the world.
The world meet from Dec 9-17 will be a challenge for Nicol right from the start.
She gets her campaign underway against wildcard Jenny Duncalf of England and a win will set her up against Hong Kong’s Annie Au.
It will be a tricky contest between the two Asians.
Nicol lost in five sets to the reigning Asian champion in the second round of the United States Open in October. Nicol But Nicol exacted sweet revenge over Annie to reach the quarter-finals of the Hong Kong Open recently.
If she reaches the last eight, Nicol is likely to face world No. 2 Raneem El Weleily of Egypt.
Nicol beat the Egyptian to win her last world title in 2014 but her rival has improved by leaps and bounds since then.
Also in Nicol’s half of the draw is France’s Camille Serme, who is seeded third.
Nicol fell to the Frenchwoman in the last eight of the Hong Kong Open.
“It is not easy to remain consistent at the top and all the girls are also trying to find their consistency.
“I only hope to be as consistent as possible and let the results and performance speaks for itself,” said Nicol.
World No. 1 Nour El Sherbini of Egypt and England’s Laura Massaro, seeded fourth, are the favourites to reach the semis from the top half of the draw.
In the men’s competition, Malaysia’s Ivan Yuen is also in for a tough opener as he is drawn to play world No. 1 Gregory Gaultier of France.