Nick & Nicol win gold at the Commonwealth Games

[1] Nick Matthew (ENG) bt [2] James Willstrop (ENG)  11-6, 11-7, 11-7 (66m)
[1] Nicol David (MAS) bt [2] Jenny Duncalf (ENG) 11-3, 11-5, 11-7 (40m)

Bronze medal
Peter Barker (ENG) bt Azlan Iskandar (MAS)  11-5, 11-4, 11-2 (45m)
Kasey Brown (AUS) bt Alison Waters (ENG) w/o

Asian Seniors Finals

Top seeded Malaysians win Asian Seniors at Chennai
[1] Nicol David (Mas) bt [2] Rebecca Chiu 11/6, 11/7, 11/7 (24m)

[1] Azlan Iskandar (Mas) bt [3/4] Aamir Atlas Khan 11/8, 11/4, 3/0 rtd (30m)

Asian Seniors Semi finals

[1] Nicol David (Mas) bt [9/16] Dipika Pallikal 11/5, 11/5, 11/2 (23m)
[2] Rebecca Chiu (Hkg) bt [5/8] Joey Chan (Hkg) 11/7, 11/9, 5/11, 15/17, 11/4 (46m)

[1] Azlan Iskandar (Mas) bt [3/4] Saurav Ghosal 11/5, 11/6, 11/5 (44m)
[3/4] Aamir Atlas Khan (Pak) bt [5/8] Yasir Butt (Pak)

Asian Seniors Quarter finals

Saurav and Dipika move into the semis.

Nicol David (MAS)[1] bt Song Sun Mi (KOR)[9/16] 11-4 11-7 11-7 (24m)
Dipika Pallikal (IND)[9/16] bt Misaki Kobayashi (JPN)[9/16] 12-10 11-8 11-6 (32m)
Rebecca Chiu (HKG)[2] bt Joshna Chinappa (IND)[5/8] 11-5 11-13 11-7 11-6 (39m)
Joey Chan (HKG)[5/8] bt Delia Arnold (MAS)[3/4] 11-4 11-4 11-6 (28m)

Azlan Iskandar (MAS)[1] bt Abdulla Almezayen (KUW)[9/16] 13-11 11-7 12-10 (50m)
Saurav Ghosal (IND)[3/4] bt Farhan Mehboob (PAK)[5/8]  11-7,11-1,11-6 (35m)
Aamir Atlas Khan (PAK)[3/4] bt Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS)[5/8] 12-10 11-8 11-5 (35m)
Yasir Ali Butt (PAK)[5/8] bt Ong Beng Hee (MAS)[2] 10-12 11-8 11-8 11-9 (60m)

Asian Senior Squash, Chennai Day 1

Malaysians Nicol David and Mohd. Azlan advanced a step closer to defending their titles at the Asian Senior Squash Championships with easy wins. The showstopper of the day was the pre-quarterfinal contest between Dipika Pallikal and Low Wee Wern wherein the local favourite came back from the dead to register a victory in five games over 65 minutes.

Dipika lost the first game 10-12 and trailed 4-9 in the second before she put a lid on her cack-handed ways. Drop-shots abounded from her racket thereafter and although Wern snatched the fourth game to tie the match, Dipika stepped on it after being locked at 8-8, taking the decider 11-8.

Asian Championships start today

The defending champion in both the men’s and women’s categories, Malaysia has received the top billing in the team event, while India is seeded third. The host will be served by Sourav Ghosal, Siddharth Suchde. Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu and Ritwik Bhattacharaya in the men’s event and by Joshna Chinappa, Dipika Pallikal, Anaka Alankamony and Surbhi Misra in the women’s section.

Squash catches ’em young!

There is innocence toddling in every inch of the ICL Squash Academy, now replete with the gentle bustle and bubbly chirps of 32 tots, who have enrolled for the summer camp.
Some might bloom, some might wither, but they have all made their first gentle strides into the world of squash.
For a whole lot of them, this is their first taste of squash. Neither as popular as cricket nor as glamorous as tennis, squash might not have swayed their fancy.
So the first shot of the course was to get them acquainted with the game. Chief coach Cyrus Poncha’s lecture on basic strokes in squash,which was followed by a video footage of the same, featuring SRFI consultant coach Major Maniam and World No. 1 player Nicol David. “Later, we demonstrated the shots on the court,” explained Poncha.

Dunlop British Open, Final

[3] Rachael Grinham (Aus) bt [1] Nicol David (Mas)7/9, 4/9, 9/3, 10/8, 9/1 (87m)
[3] Gregory Gaultier (Fra) bt [4] Thierry Lincou (Fra) 11/4, 10/12, 11/6, 11/3 (63m)

Maniam: Nicol David can rule the game for years to come

Malaysia’s squash queen Nicol David is capable of setting more world standards and joining big sports personalities like golfer Tiger Woods and former German tennis superstar Steffi Graf, said her former coach Major (rtd) S. Maniam. Nicol, 24, now a fully mature player, is not only relying on physical fitness but has all-round ability in squash and there is hardly any rival to match her performance at present, he said. “She has immense talent and I think she will break records in women’s squash. She will win more titles and matches and become a legend, just like Pakistan’s Jahanghir Khan, who ruled men’s squash in the 70s and 80s.

“At present I do not see anyone coming close to threatening her throne as she has managed to widen the gap with the rest,” said Maniam. At present, Nicol is officially the world number one in women’s squash and the current British Open and World Open champion. She also won the World Junior title twice in 1999 and 2000. Maniam, who is based in Chennai, has been the Asian Squash Federation’s Director of Coaching for the last 12 years and is also a consultant coach for the Squash Rackets Federation of India.

Qatar Classic Finals

[3] Ramy Ashour (Egy) bt [2] David Palmer (Aus) 8/11, 11/9, 11/9, 11/6 (66m)
[1] Nicol David (Mas) bt [2] Natalie Grinham (Aus) 9/7, 2/9, 9/7, 9/2 (69m)