Nicol David Celebrates World Ranking Century by Howard Harding 1 August 2014
- Just days after becoming the first woman squash player to win two
successive Commonwealth Games gold medals, Malaysia's Nicol David marks
another major milestone in the August Women's World Squash Rankings by
celebrating her 100th month as world No1 in the list published today by
the Women's Squash Association (WSA).
The now 30-year-old
from Penang first topped the list in January 2006, but slipped to No2
for four months from April before bouncing back in August to begin an
unprecedented unbroken run until today.
David's achievements
in squash are unparalleled: After becoming the first player ever to win
two world junior titles, she went on to claim a record seven World
Championship titles amongst a haul of 74 WSA World Tour titles from 93
final appearances.
David pays tribute to
her long-time coach Liz Irving for the success she has achieved: "Liz
completely revolutionised my squash. She had belief in my ability and
constantly adds to my game.
"But she's more than a
coach," says David of the one-time world No2 from Australia. "She's my
mentor in every way. She's been there before."
David also
acknowledges the invaluable help she has had from coaches Sarah
Fitz-Gerald and Vicki Cardwell; Sports psychologist Frank Cabooter;
physio Ronald Fauvel; and her parents.
"The whole team is really vital to me - I couldn't be where I am without them all," concluded David.
In a relatively
unchanged world top 20, England's 2014 Commonwealth Games silver
medallist Laura Massaro remains at No2, with Egypt's Raneem El Welily
in third place and Glasgow 2014 bronze medallist Joelle King, of New
Zealander, at No4.
August top 20 (inc. points average): 1 [1] Nicol David MAS 3,533 2 [2] Laura Massaro ENG 2,379 3 [3] Raneem El Welily EGY 1,754 4 [4] Joelle King NZL 1,171 5 [5] Camille Serme FRA 1,107 6 [6] Alison Waters ENG 1,036 7 [7] Low Wee Wern MAS 995 8 [8] Nour El Sherbini EGY 906 9 [9] Annie Au HKG 761 10 [10] Dipika Pallikal IND 750 11 [11] Madeline Perry IRL 648 12 [12] Omneya Abdel Kawy EGY 637 13 [14] Jenny Duncalf ENG 575 14 [15] Rachael Grinham AUS 573 15 [13] Amanda Sobhy USA 567 16 [16] Kasey Brown AUS 509 17 [17] Sarah-Jane Perry ENG 468 18 [18] Sarah Kippax ENG 465 19 [19] Nicolette Fernandes GUY 463 20 [20] Emma Beddoes ENG 448
