Prince Star Nicol David Celebrates Historic World Open Win

In a short career already bursting with historic achievements, Prince squash star Nicol David established two further records in Hong Kong this week when she upset the top seed in the women's final of the Cathay Pacific Credit Suisse Privilege World Open to become not only the youngest ever world champion, but also the first Asian winner of the title.

Less than 24 hours earlier, the 22-year-old from Penang in Malaysia beat world No1 Vanessa Atkinson, the defending champion, to guarantee becoming the next world number one in the January world rankings!

It was only in October that Nicol David signed with Prince Sports and switching to the brand's revolutionary O3 Tour racquet. Within two weeks, and competing in her first tournament with the pioneering racquet, David won the British Open crown for the first time - again making history as the first Asian winner of the title.

Since enjoying a sensational career as a junior, in which she became the first player in history to win the world junior crown twice, Nicol David has made rapid progress on the WISPA World Tour. After winning the World Games title in July, David went on to become the first home winner of the Malaysian Open title in the same month.

But her success over the past week has confirmed David's status as one of Malaysia's most celebrated sports stars of all-time. Her triumph in Hong Kong has been trumpeted on the front pages of newspapers in her homeland. Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has said: "I am very proud of Nicol's achievements. Her excellent performance has elevated her to a sportsperson of distinction. Others should emulate her."

In the World Open final, David twice led in the first game against Rachael Grinham and saved a game ball at 7-8 before the Australian, the world No1 for 16 months until this week, took the opener.

But the pint-sized Malaysian fought back to even the match after only losing two further points, then outlasted her experienced opponent to clinch a sensational victory - and the sport's most prized title - 8-10 9-2 9-6 9-7 after 53 minutes.

"The last three months have been overwhelming - first winning the British Open, then the Carol Weymuller Open in New York, and now the World Open title as well as becoming the next world number one," said an emotional Nicol David. "It's been an extremely exciting time.

"I'm also really excited about my new association with Prince and am absolutely delighted with the new O3 racquet. In fact, it's the best racquet I've ever used," added the 2005 World Open champion.

Prince International Player Promotions Manager Andy Bunting added: "It was a real privilege to watch Nicol achieve her success in Hong Kong. She was so strong and quick all week, with a maturity beyond her years - and had to play brilliant squash to win a tough semi-final and final, coming through to thoroughly earn the title of World Champion."

The Hong Kong triumph rounds off a magnificent year for Nicol David, who won the Kuala Lumpur Open in February and went on to remain undefeated in six further WISPA World Tour finals to bring her Tour title haul to ten. It was in February 2000 that David won her maiden professional trophy in the Finnish Open - becoming, at 16, the youngest ever winner of a WISPA title.

In the Men's World Open in Hong Kong, long-time Prince player Peter Nicol, the 1999 champion, upset France's reigning champion Thierry Lincou to reach the semi-finals for the seventh time since 1994. It was the Englishman's tenth successive PSA Tour victory over the world number one since 2001, and his third since switching to the O3 Tour in July.

Prince's new O3 breakthrough is the first significant development in racquet technology since the late eighties when racquets changed from wood to graphite. The O3-engineered racquets provide a large sweet spot in a manoeuvrable and aerodynamic frame. Prince re-engineered traditional pin-sized string holes into giant O-Ports, providing total string freedom for a livelier response across the entire string bed. This expands the conventional sweet spot in racquets by up to 54%, turning it into a Sweet Zone!