Nicol leads by example
HONG Kong stood in Malaysia’s way of a sixth consecutive semi-final berth at the Women’s World Team Championship in Paris yesterday after the national team ended the preliminary phase on a high.
Malaysia have not finished lower than third since 2006 and
Nicol David (pic) showed how much she valued the tournament by declining a chance to sit out the final Group C tie against winless Austria on Wednesday.
Although already assured of a quarter-final berth beforehand, Nicol still took to the court and whipped Sandra Polak 11-3, 11-2, 11-1 to give Malaysia a winning 2-0 lead to stretch her unbeaten run at the tournament to 36 matches.
National champion Delia Arnold put Malaysia one up by beating Sabrina Rehman 11-3, 11-3, 11-8 while Rachel Arnold made her tournament debut in an 11-7, 11-3, 11-6 win over Judith Van Der Merwe.
That ensured Malaysia finished top of Group C after also blanking Netherlands and Australia 3-0.
Since making her first appearance at the championship in 2002, Nicol has played in 46 of 47 ties, missing a clash against Guatemala in 2014 when Malaysia reached the final for the first time.
Rather than sit out the tie against Austria, the national team captain led by example and instead it was national junior S. Sivasangari who made way to allow for Rachel’s debut.
Delia said the workout against Austria was what the national players needed ahead of the last-eight tie against Hong Kong, who finished second in Group D after losing 2-1 to France.
“I had a relatively easy game compared to the two previous matches,” said Delia. “Nicol too had it easy. My sister Rachel started a little nervous but once she picked up the momentum, there was no turning back. It was a good exposure for her.”
Hong Kong held a 3-1 winning record over Malaysia in the tournament’s history but all their victories came before Nicol’s 2002 debut.
Ahead of yesterday’s clash, Hong Kong won two of their previous six meetings with Malaysia, scoring upsets at the 2010 and 2012 Asian Team Championships though Nicol was not present for the latter defeat.
The other quarter-final ties saw top seeds Egypt face the United States, defending champions England against New Zealand and hosts France up playing nine-time winners Australia.
Had Malaysia overcome Hong Kong, they could meet England in the semi-finals today in a repeat of the 2014 final.
RESULTS — Group A: Egypt 3 Mexico 0; New Zealand 2 India 1; Group B: England 2 Wales 1; United States 2 Canada 1; Group C: Malaysia 3 Austria 0, Australia 2 Netherlands 1; Group D: France 2 Hong Kong 1, Japan 2 Germany 1.