This year, the CIMB Singapore Masters, now in it’s fourth year, will feature an all-glass court for the first time at Kallang Leisure Park after a 12-year absence. According to sources, it is a necessity that has forced the Singapore Squash Rackets Association (SSRA) to invest some $300,000 in a lease-to-buy arrangement for the equipment. Round 1 & 2 of the qualifying rounds will be held at the Kallang Squash Centre, starting today—the 26th of July.

The court is already up at Kallang Leisure Park.

Nicol Set to Capture Singapore title, too.

Raneem El Weleily vs Nicol David will prove to be an interesting match.

Fresh from her recent victory at the CIMB Malaysian Open last weekend against WISPA No. 2 Jenny Duncalf—Nicol David is now set to defend her title in Singapore. She will be meeting young Egyptian, Raneem El Weleily in the first round which starts this Wednesday, the 28th of July. Raneem recently stunned two top seeded players, Rachael Grinham and Laura Massaro at the Malaysian Open, only to be stopped by Jenny Duncalf in the semi final. Jenny Duncalf will be missed from this event, opening opportunities to other seeded players to make it through to the finals.

Besides the heavyweights, another player to watch for will be the recently crowned American World Junior Champion, Amanda Sobhy who will be playing another talented junior, Joey Chan of Hong Kong in the first qualifying round.

The tops seeds are:

(1) Nicol David (MAS)
(2) Rachael Grinham (AUS)
(3) Alison Waters (ENG)
(4) Omneya Abdel Kawy (EGY)
*(5) Natalie Grainger (USA)
(6) Madeline Perry (IRE)
(7) Kasey Brown (AUS)
(8) Camille Serme (FRA)

*Pegged ranking.

Click here to view the full draw.

SquashStars.com will only officially start live coverage and reports for this tournament, starting Round 1 of the main draw. Reports on Qualifiers can be found here!

Battle of the Sexes is back!

Right after the Singapore Masters will be the Battle of the Sexes! Here are the details:

Match #1 : Low Wee Wern (World No.26) vs Timothy Soh (Singapore National Junior)

Match #2 : Nicol David (World No.1) vs Udai Singh (Battle of The Sexes Part 1 Winner)

Event Details
Venue: Kallang Leisure Park Atrium
Date: 1st August 2010 (Sunday)
Time: 2.30pm – Meet the Fans & Autograph Signing Sessions
3.00pm - Match #1
3.45pm – Match #2
4.30pm – Prize Presentation

Seats: FREE*

*Confirm your seats to avoid disappointment, book seats in advance at S$15 each.
Email ultimatesquasher@yahoo.com or call 9455 9707 for payment details.

The Malaysian crowd getting ready.

The Stompers charging up the atmosphere before the big finals.

The BIG awaited match between World number one and two promised to be a spectacular match. Although Nicol had won 16 of their previous 18 meetings, Jenny showed some excellent form at the end of 2009, defeating Nicol in two consecutive tournaments. However, following those two losses, Nicol won the next two matches after—in 2010 at the Chennai Open and Cayman Islands Open.

The epic 72 minute match.

Jenny, donned in a purple Adidas top, was the first to serve. The game started off rather evenly with both girls looking in top form. Nicol kept volleying while Jenny was slowing it down. Jenny was playing some good boasts with Nicol saving them one by one, lobbing the ball to the back each time. At 10-6, Nicol returned Jenny’s excellent volley nick with a nice drop shot to take the first game 11-6! The second game started off well for Jenny with a 4-point lead over Nicol at 6-2. Dressed in a trendy and chic grey Adidas dress, Nicol was seen puffing her cheeks, working hard to take points off her opponent. At 10-6, with game ball to Jenny, Nicol makes a stretch but misses it, and Jenny evens the score tally to 1-1. The third set started off with a stroke to Nicol as Jenny hit the ball back at herself. Many low backhand drives from Nicol and some long fantastic rallies put Nicol in an 8-5 lead. Nicol eventually takes the set 11-7, making it 2-1.

Jenny, looking for an opening.

Both ladies were doing lots of running around the court in the fourth set. There was some scrambling around the court by Nicol when she tripped over Jenny and accidentally hit the ball before she could ask for a let. The referees decided on a “no let” call. A dissatisfied Nicol tried to make her case but the point was given to Jenny and the score was leveled at 7-7. The game turned very similar to the point-for-point game between Nicol and Alison. Jenny finally won the game in extra points at 12-10.

Nicol, making her move.

Pressure was mounting on both players as they moved into the fifth game. Nicol sent some strong dead shots to the back of the court, taking a 3-0 lead. Jenny seemed to be making some errors on the tin and soon enough, Nicol was way ahead with a 9-3 lead. Jenny kept fighting and took Nicol to 5-10 but the game ended with a stroke in Nicol’s favour, making it six Malaysian Open titles in a row for the world champ! “Hard match again. Jenny just played some amazing shots that’s irretrievable. I just knew I had to work hard again. Just glad to win it! Now with my first win in Malaysia for the season, I hope to bring the momentum over to Singapore. Looking forward!”

Congratulations, to both Nicol and Jenny for a game well played!

Azlan Iskandar made it a double victory for Malaysian Squash as he won the Men's category against a feisty Tarek Momen of Egypt in straight sets—11/5, 11/6, 11/8 (37 minutes).

Tournament article archive:
• Cream of the Crop at Malaysian Open 2010
• The Online Contest — Make your Predictions!
• Highlights from Qualifiers, Round 1
• Highlights from the Qualifiers, Round 2
• Highlights from the Quarter Final
• Semi Final Live Blog
• Semi Final Highlights

Click to join in the conversation!

View full draw here.

Malaysian TV, Astro Arena will be airing the tournament live on Channel 801.

Click below to join in the conversation now!

View full draw here.

Submit the most accurate entry and win the new Prince EXO3 Rebel Racquet.
Submissions no later than July 21st, 2010, 3:59PM Malaysian time!

Are you Rebel enough?

July 21st, 2010

So far 6 out of the 10 questions have been answered after Round 1 today! They are:

How many 3-0 in the Quarter final: 2
Madeline Perry vs Camiller Serme: Camille Serme 3-1
Low Wee Wern vs Natalie Grainger: Low Wee Wern 3-2
Tania Bailey vs Alison Waters: Alison Waters
How many seeded players will continue to the quarter finals? 5
Who will go further in this tournament, Alison or Rachael: Alison

CIMB MALAYSIAN OPEN 2010: Highlights from the Qualifiers

This year’s qualifiers has been one of the most exciting yet, with all the top juniors showcasing their skills.

Watch out for Joelle King, Nicol!

Despite her spirited fight against up and coming New Zealander Joelle King, talented Joey Chan saw an early exit in the first round. Joelle has been performing really well, even beating top seed Rachael Grinham to win the Texas Open Championship earlier this year! From the back, she could be easily mistaken for Shelley Kitchen as she too displays the same hard hitting style and lanky physique. This Kiwi is definitely going to give defending champion Nicol David a good fight in Round 1 of the main draw.

This one is a hard worker. We overheard Raneem ask for a ball to practice right after one of her matches.

Another impressive qualifier is Egyptian, Raneem El Weleily who fought off both Malaysian veteran, Sharon Wee and 14-year old compatriot, Nour El Sherbini to claim a spot in the main draw. She will be going up against the very tricksy Australian—Rachael Grinham, in the first round. We predict, Raneem is going to give Rachael a good run for her money tomorrow.

Besides her Bollywood good looks, Dipika Pallikal plays a mean game of squash.

India’s Dipika Pallikal also played some impressive squash especially in the first round of qualifiers against an experienced Aisling Blake of Ireland. Dipika showed nerves of steel when she saved 5 match balls in the fourth set and frustrated Aisling out of the qualifiers in the 5th. In the second round, her skilled court play at the front earned her a spot in the main draw. Kudos to her Malaysian opponent Siti Munirah Jusoh who outplayed a very experienced Rebecca Chiu in the first round, only to be thwarted by Dipika in the second. Dipika will meet 8th seed, Laura Massaro in the main draw.

Tania after her hip arthroscopy, last year. Congratulations on your recovery, Tania!

Lastly, England’s Captain, Tania Bailey beat local favorite Delia Arnold and the fiesty Donna Urquhart of Australia with very convincing scorelines. Tania is showing good form despite having just recovered from a hip surgery last year! We look forward to seeing Tania hold her ground against her higher seeded compatriot, Alison Waters, tomorrow.

Need a new squash racquet? You can win one RIGHT HERE!

Squash Stars is a news, blog and entertainment site about women squash players founded by Nicol Ann David, the current women’s world champion. With a tagline of “More than just a pretty racquet”, Squash Stars aims to spread the joys of squash while creating an avenue for fans to get to know the women behind the racquets. Squash Stars is represented by a Star Ambassador from each country. They are:

Nicol David, World No. 1 from Malaysia
Samantha Teran, Mexico No. 1
Natalie Grainger, USA No. 1
Annelize Naude, Dutch National Champ 2008
Aisling Blake, Ireland No. 2
Alana Miller, Canada No. 1
Manuela Manetta, Italy No. 1
Shelley Kitchen, New Zealand No. 1
Line Hansen, Denmark No. 1

The 2010 addition to SquashStars.com has been its very own celebrity interview column–StarGazer, featuring exclusive interviews with the whos-who in the squash world.

Squash Stars is the proud host of the “Meet the Stars” session this weekend at the Bukit Jalil Squash Centre, providing the opportunity for squash fans to meet their favourite squash talents in person. With Oakley and Prince as principal sponsors, don’t miss out on the chance to win the fantastic prizes up for grabs during the event! See you there!

Squash 101:

Jahangir Khan had a 555-match unbeaten run from 1981 – 1986, and is often touted as the greatest player to ever step on a court.

Not in Malaysia? Watch out for the upcoming Online Contest!

It’s that time of the year again for squash fans & enthusiasts to cheer aloud as we welcome the top squash players from around the world to enchant us with their talents and skills on our shores. The CIMB Malaysian Open 2010 will be held between 21 – 24 July at the National Squash Centre, Bukit Jalil and The Curve, Mutiara Damansara.

The tournament will be held for the sixth time in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur under the CIMB banner and it’s no surprise that this year, more top ranked players have chosen to participate in this Gold Class event. Squash fans can be assured of feasting their eyes on first-class squash action as nine of the top ten WISPA players have confirmed their entries thus far.

Nicol David against mum-to-be Natalie Grinham, in last year's Malaysian Open Semi-Finals. Pic by Glenn Guan, The Star.

Malaysia’s Nicol David, who has been World No. 1 for over 50 months, will be gunning for her sixth straight Malaysian Open title. However, Nicol faces stern competition from amongst others, Jenny Duncalf (World No. 2) who beat her in two successive events at the end of 2009. Egypt’s Omneya Abdel Kawy (World No. 6) is also back to avenge her KL Open defeat to Nicol earlier this year while Natalie Grainger, winner of the CIMB KL Open 2009, returns to the circuit after recovering from a heel injury.

The star-studded line-up further consists of Englishwomen Alison Waters (World No. 5) and Laura Massaro (World No. 8), Australians Rachael Grinham (World No. 3) and Kasey Brown (World No. 9), Ireland’s Madeline Perry (World No. 7) and a new entrant to the top ten list – French talent Camille Serme (World No. 10).

Delia Arnold, the national No. 2, will have to work her way through the qualifying rounds along with Sharon Wee, Siti Munirah Jusoh and Pushppa Devi while National No. 3 Low Wee Wern has been given a wild card entry to the main draw.

In conjunction with the Malaysian Open 2010, SquashStars will be organizing a fun-filled “Meet the Fans” session on 17 July at the National Squash Centre. Block your dates for a chance to get up-close and personal with the SquashStars Ambassadors and the Malaysian Womens’ team. Stay tuned for more updates in the coming weeks!

Join Us!

]]> http://squashstars.com/cream-of-the-crop-at-malaysian-open-2010/feed/ 0 http://squashstars.com/rocking-the-courts/ http://squashstars.com/rocking-the-courts/#comments Tue, 22 Jun 2010 03:58:53 +0000 Kavitha Aruljothi http://squashstars.com/?p=2066

In this week’s StarGazer Interview:
Nicol David, Malaysia

Nicol in Cancun, amongst Agave trees.

STARGAZER : Are your matches getting more competitive at the moment amongst your peers?
NICOL : The level and depth of the women’s game is getting closer amongst the top players, and that makes it more challenging at every tournament. Each year there’s an improvement from everybody because they are gunning to make it higher in the rankings thus pushing everybody else to elevate their standards always.

STARGAZER : Do the tournaments get tougher after the first half of the year?
NICOL :The main tournaments like the World Open and this year’s Commonwealth Games and Asian Games will make the second half, a busy part of the calendar. There are also more major WISPA events from July til November, and that’s why the training build up is key.

STARGAZER : What gets you going in the second half of the season?
NICOL : Focusing and working towards the big tournaments and keeping the intensity with training. The year gets more exciting approaching the second half of the year and I have to be ready to work through right til the end of the year.

STARGAZER : What’s your main goal of the year?
NICOL : Looking to do well in the World Open and Commonwealth Games. These tournaments are the main focus for the year but I still would like to keep on top of my performance to do well in every tournament I play in.

Relaxing in the clear blue waters of Caymans

STARGAZER : Any goals outside of squash such as learning a language, surfing etc?
NICOL : I do want to pick up a new language especially Spanish but I’ve been trying to do that for a while now. Will still keep onto it and continue to find more Spanish people to teach me the language!

STARGAZER : Any particular holiday planned for the summer?
NICOL : Anywhere that has a beach and is sunny! Will probably go somewhere in Spain and experience a true beach holiday with friends of mine. I choose places where I can be away from my daily routine of squash training and enjoy the beauty that surrounds me while getting a tan!

STARGAZER : How do you converse with people who don’t speak your language especially with the traveling?
NICOL : I actually just make hand signals a lot and sometimes find myself shouting. I just purchased a mini book to point to pictures in case I have trouble.

STARGAZER : If you had a choice to be a superstar, what kind of superstar would you be?
NICOL : A rockstar! Everybody wants to experience the life of a rockstar at least once in their lifetime.

Nicol with her family and Mexican SquashStars Ambassador Samantha Teran

STARGAZER FACT FILE:

Name : Nicol Ann David
Age : 26
Nationality : Malaysian
Home State/Town/City : Penang, Malaysia
Current World Ranking : 1
Coach : Liz Irving
Racquet : Prince EXO3 Rebel
Favorite Squash Player of All Time : None in particular but all the squash greats are on my list
Proudest Achievement : Winning the World Open Championships in 2005
Favorite Tournament : Cayman Islands Open
Favorite Food : My Mum’s cooking and Penang food (Char Koay Teow)
Favorite Holiday Destination : Cancun
Favorite Color : Purple

A true Squash Star!

Connect with Nicol on her Facebook Page!

Back in Chennai again to compete in the Asian Championships. This time it was a little different because I was playing for the Malaysian team. Quite a nice feeling and I fed off the energy the team had to offer.

The Malaysian Team

A lot of the other teams we met here at the Asians do not have the same luxury to play the PSA or WISPA tournaments like us Malaysians so it was great to see the excitement when they were competing in this event.

The tournament keeps on growing each time I compete—and everyone kept reminding me that I’ve played this tournament for 14 years already.  A little hint of how old I am now!

INDIVIDUALS

Day 1

I played Gu Jinyue from China in the first round, then Elise Ng from Hong Kong in the second round. Interesting seeing the Chinese involved in squash and with their background in Badminton, they applied themselves well. Elise put together some good rallies and I had to put the ball away from her control.

Day 2

Song Sun Mi from Korea was a determined player and kept working the ball nicely with some Badminton influences as well with the volleys. We had some long rallies and I kept my focus in the end of each game to win it 3-0.

Day 3

Dipika Pallikal was growing with confidence with the home crowd behind her and I knew I had to keep the pressure on. All throughout the match, I could feel her taking her chances when she could but I made sure in the last game to not let her in.

Day 4

Rebecca Chiu and I have been in the Asian finals so many times and this one seemed like how we always played. She took on the openings and most of her shots were winners. I tightened up my game a bit more and brought the pace up. A few errors from her and moments later, I regained my Asian title once again.

Speech with Major Maniam

Prize presentation

THE TEAM EVENT

Day 5 – Malaysia vs. Korea (1. Song Sun Mi, 2. Park Eun Ok, 3. Kim Ga Hye)

I rested today while the team played well to beat Korea 3-0. Delia won in a convincing manner in 3 games. Wee Wern was still getting into her rhythm in the first game but regained her form to win 3-1 and Sharon came through with a clean 3-0 win.

Day 6 – Malaysia vs. Japan (1. Misaki Kobayashi, 2. Miwa Maekawa, 3. Kozue Onizawa)

We fielded the full team to prepare for our cross over match. Delia started off with a solid display to win 3-0, I had a nice flow through my match winning in straight games and Wee Wern took it on for the team to finish it in 3.

Day 7 – Semi Finals: Malaysia vs. Hong Kong (1. Rebecca Chiu, 2. Annie Au, 3. Joey Chan)

Playing Hong Kong in the semis was a completely different situation for us. The Malaysian girls were set to give it their all. Wee Wern worked hard to get her first game. Joey started attacking more but Wee Wern went for the grind til the end but lost 3-1. My turn to get going and I was firing all the way through to win 3-0. Delia went on next and Annie was on the ball today. Delia kept pushing through and wanted it badly but Annie just managed to squeeze in the victory for the Hong Kong team.

Group photo with the Consular of Malaysia

A great experience for the team and a good display of their determination that will take them far.

The overall results having Mohd Azlan Iskandar win the Men’s title was a treat but Pakistan was better on the day of the finals in the team event and Malaysia took second place. Pakistan are tough competitors and fair play to our team who gave it their best.

Now I’m onto a good two months of training in Amsterdam to build up for next season starting from the Malaysian Open. See you there!!