Malaysia’s Nicol David made history for the fourth time this year when victory over top-seeded Rachael Grinham of Australia on Sunday made her the first Asian woman to win the World Open squash title.
The men’s tournament was clinched by Egypt’s Shabana, who swept aside Australia’s David Palmer 11-6 11-7 11-8.
David, 22, secured an 8-10 9-2 9-6 9-7 victory over Grinham, holding off a late resurgence from 2-7 to 7-7 in a lungstretching match. David had already become the first home player to capture the Malaysian Open, the first Asian woman to win the British Open and the first Asian woman to become world number one.
“Actually I am still in the focus I created in order to play the match, she said soon after her latest triumph. “So I hardly know how I feel about all this.
“But I do feel that this is just the beginning of my career,and that I have so much work to do and there is so much improvement I can make.
Shabana’s victory over Palmer made him the first man to regain the world title since Jansher Khan, the great Pakistani, 13 years ago.
Bizarrely,ink from the logo on the Egyptian’s racket soiled the ball, prompting the Australian to complain it was difficult to see, echoing Englishman Peter Nicol’s comments the day before.
Shabana was nevertheless brilliant with his wristy disguises and by far the freshest of all the leading players in the tournament after a 19-day layoff with a wrist injury.
“My family told me the injury might be for a reason, Shabana said. “They were right. The rest left me with more energy. Palmer was banned in January by the World Squash Federation until February next year for abusing an umpire, but the World Open is not under the federation’s control. -Reuters
