Awards and recognition

On 7 June 2008, Nicol David was honoured with the Order of Merit (Darjah Bakti) or D.B.in conjunction with the birthday of His Majesty Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin. She was the first recipient of the award which was established on 26 June 1975.The award is limited to 10 recipients who have made significant contributions in the arts, sciences and the humanities.

On 12 July 2008, Nicol was among 497 people honoured in conjunction with the 70th birthday of the Penang State Governor Tun Abdul Rahman Abbas.Nicol was also one of the 28 people who received the Darjah Setia Pangkuan Negeri award (DSPN), which carries the title Datuk, making her the youngest person ever to be conferred Datukship in Penang.The former Prime Minister of Malaysia Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, a fellow Penangite, once quipped that Nicol is "now more famous than me". In July 2007, Nicol received Master of Arts honoris causa; an honorary degree by the University of Nottingham. Nicol has also obtained the WISPA Player of the Year on fsix consecutive occasions, from 2005 until 2010.

Squash career

Nicol David played squash when she was five years old, and received coaching at the age of eight. While training at the Bukit Dumbar Squash Centre, Nicol was talent spotted by Ee Phoeh Hoon, who led her to represent her home state of Penang, along with her sisters. Nicol's squash career began in 1992 when she won silver in the Under-14 category of the Penang State Junior Championship. Her first national level victory was also in 1992 at the Milo-Dunlop Sport National Junior Interstate Championship, where she won silver in the Under-16 category. In 1994, Nicol was chosen to join the Penang state squash team for the Malaysian Games (SUKMA) tournament where she helped Penang win a gold medal in the team event, despite being ill at the time.In the same year, she won her first two international titles – the Hong Kong U-13 and the Scottish Junior Open Under-12.

Nicol won the Women's World Junior Squash Championships of 1999 in Antwerp, Belgium, making her the youngest woman to become the world junior champion at the age of 15. In the process, she defeated three players ranked in the world top 20.She successfully defended the title in Penang in 2001, becoming one of only two players in the history of squash to have won it twice; her coach was Richard Glanfield.

In 1999, Nicol began to win major junior tournaments, including the British Junior Open (Under-17 champion), the German Junior Open (Under-19, Champion),the SEA Games (Champion in the Senior and Team categories),and the Asian Junior Champion for both individual and team events.

Nicol's biggest win, however, was the World Junior Championships, played in Antwerp. It took just half an hour for the then 15-year-old Malaysian schoolgirl to obtain world junior champion status when she beat compatriot Leong Siu Lynn 9–5, 9–3 and 9–2 in the final of the women's individual event to become the youngest ever winner of the title. Nicol reached the quarterfinals of the previous World Junior Championships in August 1997 in Brazil, as a thirteen-year-old and has since claimed both the Asian junior and senior titles, as well as the gold medal in the Asian Games in December 1998. Nicol also is one of a few squash player to have won all the age categories in the British Junior Open.

Personal life

Nicol is the daughter of Ann Marie David, a retired Malaysian Chinese school teacher, and Desmond David, a Malaysian Indian engineer,who is also a former state athlete and footballer.She has two sisters, Lianne and Cheryl, both of whom are accomplished squash players at the national level. As a youngster, mathematics was Nicol's best subject at school;she dreamed of one day becoming an engineer.Her primary education was at Sekolah Kebangsaan Convent Green Lane(Convent Green Lane Primary School). Nicol scored seven A's for her Penilaian Menengah Rendah and obtained seven A's in her Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (the equivalent to GCSE), which she studied at Convent Green Lane Secondary School in Green Lane, Penang.She was raised a Roman Catholic.

Biography Dato Nicol Ann David

Datuk Nicol Ann David is a Malaysian female professional squash player. She is currently ranked world number 1 in women's squash, and is the first Asian woman to achieve this. She won the British Open title in 2005, 2006 and 2008, as well as the World Open title in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2010.

Nicol is the first squash player to have won the World Junior title twice; in 1999 and 2001 under the tutelage of Richard Glanfield. She remained the only female squash player to have achieved this, until Raneem El Weleily emulated Nicol's feat by winning her second World Junior Championship in 2007. Nicol joined WISPA and turned professional in 2000 when she won her first WISPA title, after only a month in the tour. The victory came in February, when she defeated Salma Shabana in the final of the Savcor Finnish Open. On June 7, 2008, Nicol David was honoured with the Order of Merit (Darjah Bakti) or D.B. in conjunction with the birthday of the His Majesty Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin. She was the first recipient of the award which was established on June 26, 1975. Nicol was also invited to carry the Olympic torch for Malaysia during the build up to the Athens Olympics in 2004 and being appointed as UNDP National Goodwill Ambassador for Malaysia.

Nicol David's other notable achievements include the Asian Squash Championship, which she won with a record of eight times (in 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2011). She also held a 13-month, 51-match winning streak, from March 2006 until April 2007, when she finally lost to Natalie Grinham in the final of the 2007 Seoul Open. Nicol has also obtained the WISPA Player of the Year on six consecutive occasions, from 2005 until 2010.Nicol is the daughter of Ann Marie David, a retired Malaysian Chinese school teacher, and Desmond David, a Malaysian Indian engineer,who is also a former state athlete and footballer. She has two sisters, Lianne and Cheryl, both of whom are accomplished squash players at the national level. As a youngster, mathematics was Nicol's best subject at school; she dreamed of one day becoming an engineer. Her primary education was at Sekolah Kebangsaan Convent Green Lane(Convent Green Lane Primary School). Nicol scored seven A's for her Penilaian Menengah Rendah and obtained seven A's in her Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (the equivalent to GCSE), which she studied at Convent Green Lane Secondary School in Green Lane, Penang. She was raised a Roman Catholic.