Nicol and Grinham to resume rivalry in the Malaysian Open

2007-05-09

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia's Nicol David and Australia's Natalie Grinham are expected to renew their rivalry for world squash supremacy at the CIMB Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur from June 27-30.
The top two ranked female players in the world have opted to take a break from the professional circuit after the Seoul City Open two weeks ago.
The Women's International Squash Players Association (Wispa) executive director, Andrew Shelley, said in an email: “Unless anything big comes up for both players, the next event for them will be the Malaysian Open.
“The next two tournaments – Hurghada Open in Cairo (which started yesterday) and the Texas Open – have not attracted the top women's players.”
Nicol and Grinham share the honour of winning three titles each in the six major tournaments held thus far this year.
Nicol won the KL Open, Kuwait Open and Qatar Classic titles while Grinham emerged victorious at the Apawamis Open in New York, Greenwich Open and Seoul City Open.
Both players came up against each other in the final of four of the tournaments – in KL, Kuwait, Qatar, Seoul – and Nicol hold a 3-1 advantage.
Nicol is expected to return to the professional circuit to defend her Penang Open title from June 18-23 before heading to KL for the Malaysian Open.
The two-time world champion will also be defending the Malaysian Open title.
However, her next assignment will be a promotional tour of South America, which starts at the end of this month.
The ninth edition of the Tour scheduled for May 30-June 10 will visit three countries – Argentina, Uruguay and Chile.
It will be the fourth time that Nicol will go on the Tour after 2002 (Sarawak, Brunei), 2003 (Beijing) and last year (Estonia and Norway).
The other players selected for the Tour are Australians Rachael Grinham, the current world number three, and former world champion Sarah Fitz-Gerald.
The Tour will again feature exhibitions, clinics, press conferences and meetings with sports bodies in Buenos Aires and Montevideo before a final leg in Santiago.

This is just getting better and better.....Nicol, keep up the good work and enjoy every tiny bit of fun you gonna to have ..... cheers..

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