NEW DELHI, Oct 8 Nicol David, the highest profile woman squash player of all time, made up for her biggest disappointment with an 11-3, 11-5, 11-7 win over Jenny Duncalf which earned her the Commonwealth Games gold medal here on Friday.
Despite having been world number one for 55 consecutive months the 27-year-old Malaysian had had to wait four years to atone for her loss to Natalie Grinham in Melbourne, and to capture the only major title she has been missing.
There was rarely much doubt that she would beat the world number two from England, who beat David twice late last year but has been unable to repeat the feat in 2010.
The favourite was off to a great start, striking the ball accurately and consistently, gradually developed her capacity to score in the front court with drops and volley drops, and was only challenged in the third game when Duncalf hung in as hard as she could.
But David remained calm as her moment approached, finishing it with a penalty point after pressuring her opponent into hitting the ball back too close to her own body.
As soon as that happened she expressed her feelings by picking up the ball again and ramming it as hard as she could against the front wall.
David was rarely threatened on Friday with her only worry coming in the third game, when Duncalf dug in and when the referee oddly decided not to her a let on the fourth point.
It was a rare moment when David, not normally a contentious person at all, stood and queried the official's decision. “Why no let?” she said, pointing out that her opponent had accidentally impeded her backswing. She persuaded him to change her mind.
After that Duncalf pulled back to 3-3 and began to stay with David when she extended the rallies. Three of the longer ones ended in lets at 6-4 to David.
Duncalf then came back from 5-9 to 7-9, and looked as though she might make further progress.
It was then that David's hard-won experience showed through. She found a nicely-timed boast winner, angling it off the sidewall way out of Duncalf's reach, before securing the penalty stroke which completed her piece of history.
Meanwhile, England's third seed Peter Barker outplayed Malaysia's sixth seed Mohammed Azlan Iskandar 11-5, 11-4, 11-2 in the men's singles match for the bronze medal.—AFP
