Asian Games medals a morale booster: Nicol

SEPANG: The gold and bronze medals won at her last appearance in the Asian Games will be Datuk Nicol Ann David's morale booster to pursue success in the new season of the PSA Tour championships.
"It always gives nice vibes to win after sometime ... it is also good to win a gold medal in the Asian Games.
"Feeling fresh after the Asian Games, I think I will start strong (at China Open) in the new competition season. My goal is to start every match with a good result. The China Open is the start of the season where all the top 20 players will be playing," Nicol said when met upon her arrival from Jakarta at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), here today.
The national squash queen arrived after competing at the Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games before continuing with a flight to Shanghai, China for the China Open Squash Championship which starts on Wednesday, until Sept 9.
On Aug 26, the Penangite who celebrated her 35th birthday, secured a second gold medal for the Malaysian contingent in the 2018 Asian Games Jakarta-Palembang.
"To win my fifth gold medal after a sixth Asian Games, it is really special," she said.
It was Nicol's fifth gold medal at the Asian Games, having won the Asiad gold medal in four editions - 1998, 2006, 2010 and 2014.
She finished as the runner-up in the 2002 edition in Busan, South Korea, after losing to Rebecca Chiu of Hong Kong.
"Actually, it was not easy, it was a tough encounter with our young and inspirational players like Sivasangari. She was really firing and I had to go all out to challenge her. I'm happy it paid off with a gold medal," said Nicol.
The world number nine player was pushed to the limit by national junior player, S. Sivasangari before prevailing in a five-set thriller, 11-13, 11-9, 5-11, 11-6 and 11-8 in the Asiad women's individual squash final.
Nevertheless, Nicol was delighted to see more Malaysian junior players making their mark at the international stage, especially the Asian Games.
"Its been a very successful outing for our national squash team at this year's Asian Games, winning two gold, a silver and two bronze medals. The men's team too had their good outing. They played their best squash out there, all of them fought their hearts out. I'm really proud of our team," said Nicol. — Bernama