Squash

Nicol David: Don’t pressure juniors to be like me

Malaysian squash queen Datuk Nicol Ann David believes that the national junior players need to be encouraged more, rather than pressuring them to pursue the sort of heights that she has scaled throughout her career.

The Penang-born player, who has just cemented herself as the longest world number one, having been on top of the rankings for 108 months, also claims that the squash development program in Malaysia needs to be refined and polished, to continue producing good players.

“We have a lot of junior players and we need to give them some encouragement, while at the same time, let them enjoy and have fun with squash,” Nicol David told Bernama.

“Don’t pressure them to be like me or Wee Wern,” she added.

Meanwhile, Nicol also thanked her coach, Liz Irving, who has coached her for the past 12 years; claiming that Liz played a big part in her ability to stay on top of the world rankings for such a long time.

“As a coach, she understands what I need. She gives me all the useful advice and share her expertise. She finds all the right people to come and work with me as a team,” she added.

The 32 year-old will be in action at the upcoming Asian Championship and British Open in May.

Photo Credits: www.kualalumpurpost.net

Other posts by