End of an era: Malaysian squash queen Nicol David to retire at the end of season

The most successful women’s player has decided to bring down the curtain on her glorious career at the end of the 2018-19 season

The Malaysian has won the Hong Kong Open a record 10 times but is no longer the dominant force she once was

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Nicol David is no longer a major force in women’s squash. Last year, she crashed out of the Hong Kong Open at the first hurdle. Photo: Handout

Published: 3:46pm, 19 Feb 2019Updated: 4:06pm, 19 Feb 2019

Eight-time world champion Nicol David has announced she will retire at the end of the 2018-19 squash season, bringing down the curtain on the Malaysian’s illustrious career.

The 35-year-old is the most successful woman squash player of all time and spent an unprecedented nine years as world number one between 2006-2015.

David said she had thought long and hard about calling it a day.

“This decision has been thought through for quite some time and I do know that this is my last season,” David said in a statement posted late on Monday on the website of the Professional Squash Association, the sport’s governing body.

Nicol David is in tears after losing to Egypt’s Nour El Sherbini in her quarter-final at the World Open in Malaysia. Photo: AFP

My mind and body have battled it out to stay at the very top of my game for such a long time that I feel that I only have this last big push left for the final season to give it all I have before I enter the next phase of my life.”