LUST for LIFE

It was a double jubilation for Malaysia when Mohd Azlan Iskandar and Nicol David won the men’s and women’s titles in the CIMB Malaysian Open squash tournament yesterday. The crowd at the The Curve shopping centre was ecstatic, especially when Nicol scored the final point in her match against England’s Tania Bailey.

Tania had no answer to Nicol’s superb form and mastery control, losing with an empathic 4-9, 3-9, 2-9 in 36 minutes. Nicol’s win gives her a hat-trick in the Malaysian Open titles.

I thought Nicol had an easier match against 4th seed Tania, compared to her thrilling 72-minute semi-final encounter with 3rd seed Rachael Grinham (Australia) on Friday. World No. 1 Nicol, the defending champion, had to draw on her fitness and experience when Rachael stretched her to 5 games for a 0-9, 9-2, 9-5, 4-9, 9-4 win.

In reaching the men’s final, world No. 19 Azlan had dethroned defending champion, Adrian Grant of England, in the quarters final. Yesterday, he played well to defeat top seed Stewart Boswell of Australia 11-10 (3-1), 11-8, 11-4 in 44 minutes.

Sorry readers, I didn’t get any good photos of the players in action. It’s really crowded and I was watching from an upper floor level. Had a clearer view during the prize presentation ceremony, after a couple of fans in front of me had left. For the photos posted here, I’d to use the Lumix FZ20 set to 400mm zoom.

Below Nicol and Tania on the winners’ rostrum

Azlan and Stewart with their mock cheques

Suave-looking Azlan obliging a fan for a photo