Skip to main content

Nicol faces tricky first round hurdle at KL Open

By LIM TEIK HUAT

PETALING JAYA: World number one Nicol David gets her squash season underway with a tricky first-round hurdle against Madeline Perry of Ireland in the CIMB Kuala Lumpur Open next week.

The qualifying and first-round matches will be played at the National Squash Centre in Bukit Jalil and matches from the quarter-final stage on March 5 will be staged at the Berjaya Times Square.

The women’s competition of the Open has attracted the world’s top nine players. And Nicol has to be wary of Madeline’s potential to spoil her hopes of a winning start to the year in front of the home fans even though the Malaysian star has won all 10 of their previous meetings against Perry on the Wispa Tour.

Irish danger: Madeline Perry is capable of upsetting Nicol David in the first round of the KL Open next week.

The 31-year-old world No. 9 could pose an early threat if Nicol fails to get into high gear in her first competitive match of the season.

Madeline reached the World Open semi-finals in Manchester last year before falling to eventual champion Nicol.

A win for Nicol will probably give her a quarter-final match against world number five Jenny Duncalf of England, who has yet to win in nine previous meetings against the Malaysian.

The top seeded Nicol is drawn to play against a familiar rival in 2007 world champion Rachael Grinham of Australia in the semi-finals. The final could see Nicol renewing her rivalry with world number two and the younger of the Grinham sisters, Natalie, who now plays for Holland, or fourth seed Natalie Grainger of United States.

It will be Nicol’d 13th consecutive Wispa title if she retains the KL Open title.

Last year, Nicol began her professional season with victory in the Apawamis Open in January and completed her 10-tournament schedule with a 100% win record. Besides the KL Open, Nicol also emerged as the champion in the British Open, Seoul Open, Malaysia Open, Singapore Masters, Dutch Open, World Open, Qatar Classic and Hong Kong Open.

National number two Sharon Wee has been drawn in the same half as Nicol after getting a wild card. But she has to beat Duncalf to get a crack at Nicol in the next round.

National number one Ong Beng Hee will also be seeking a successful defence of the men’s title for Malaysia. Beng Hee is the second seed and opens against a qualifier. His test in the quarter-finals will likely be against Stewart Boswell of Australia, who plays another Malaysian, Nafiizwan Adnan, in the first round.

Beng Hee is slated to face either fourth seed Adrian Grant of England or Mansoor Zaman of Pakistan in the semi-finals.

Azlan Iskandar could take over the national number one spot from Beng Hee if he wins the KL Open title.

Third seed Azlan, who is drawn in the other half as top seed Peter Barker of England, opens against Omar Mosaad of Egypt in the first round.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rajagobal Let Off The Hook

PETALING JAYA, April 24 (Bernama) -- National head coach Datuk K. Rajagobal was let off the hook by the Football Association of Malaysia's (FAM) Disciplinary Committee after finding no evidence that he had violated FAM's Article 88, as claimed. FAM Disciplinary Committee chairman Datuk Taufik Abdul Razak said the committee had decided not to charge Rajagobal after carefully analysing the video of the post-match press conference by the 56-year-old coach. "After listening to the recording of the post-match press conference, we decided to drop the charge against Rajagopal as he did not make such a statement. "Maybe his (Rajagobal) assessment and comments of the match was misconstrued by the media. There was no mention of the FAM policy throughout his comments," said Taufik after emerging from a three-hour Disciplinary Committee meeting at Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya, here, Wednesday. Rajagobal who does not mince his words when asked to com...
4 comments
Read more

Atlet Tempuhi Empat Kejohanan Besar Sebelum Olimpik Rio 2016

KUALA LUMPUR, 31 Mei (Bernama) -- Empat temasya sukan penting yang dijadual berlangsung mulai Disember ini hingga 2015 menjadi medan persiapan atlet negara sebelum menghadapi cabaran Sukan Olimpik 2016 di Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, kata Menteri Belia dan Sukan, Khairy Jamaluddin Jumaati. Kejohanan berkenaan ialah Sukan SEA di Myanmar pada Disember, Sukan Asia 2014 di Incheon, Korea Selatan, Sukan Komanwel 2014 di Glasgow, Scotland dan Sukan SEA 2015 di Singapura. Bercakap kepada pemberita selepas melawat Majlis Sukan Negara (MSN) di Bukit Jalil di sini, Khairy berkata kesemua temasya sukan itu dilihat amat penting dalam memastikan impian negara untuk membawa pulang pingat emas Olimpik pertama menjadi kenyataan. "Kita di Kementerian Belia dan Sukan (KBS) mahupun MSN akan memastikan semua atlet mendapat bantuan sewajarnya dalam melakukan persiapan ke arah membawa pulang pingat emas pertama negara di Rio de Janeiro, Brazil nanti," katanya. Dalam perkemb...
6 comments
Read more

Uber Cub: Malaysian squad Can Spring A Surprise - Ahmad Shabery

KUALA LUMPUR, April 29 (Bernama) -- Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek remains confident that the national Uber Cup squad can spring a surprise when Malaysia hosts the Thomas and Uber Cup finals at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil from May 9-16. He said despite not being the favourite, the women's team was able to surprise everyone by winning the gold medal at the Laos SEA Games. "I am confident they (Uber Cup team) will be able to produce a similar surprise. Not only are they capable of reaching the semi-final, they can go further," he told reporters after having lunch with national shuttlers here Thursday. National badminton Team manager Datuk Syed Abu Bakar Abdullah who echoed the minister's confidence said: "In Laos, nobody expected the women's team to win the world, so why not the Uber Cup? All they need to do is try their very best." Women's team captain Wong Pei Tty said she and her team-mates have set a target of r...
1 comment
Read more