Notes From The Dark Side

The first ever Asian world champion, the youngest ever world champion, the first ever Malaysian to be world number one and lots and lots more records broken…What our new national hero,Nicol David’s achievement is uncountable and indescribable on paper, she has emerged to become the crowd favorite, a role model for everyone, put her name in the history and will be forever remembered as a legend, not only in Malaysia but in the entire sport history of the world.

People once said that Asian will never be able to be world beater in squash, she worked under pressure and proved the critics wrong. People said that her physical presence is no match for tougher European opponents, she defied the odds by covering up her disadvantage of being out muscled with her astonishing speed and stamina on court. People said that Europeans are much more superior in skills and mental strength, she covered them up by her true grit and determination, chasing tirelessly for every ball, returning shots that seems impossible to retrieve, and slowly her skills developed and she now possess excellent match composure. And still people said that her victory in Malaysian Open is just a fluke, she win it because of the crowd support and will struggle to maintain her form in bigger stage, again this time she did the impossible, defeating two higher ranked and more experienced player outside Malaysia to capture the world crown. Now what else can people say? Their mouth is sealed by her achievement, only praise and congrats, no more critics.

Speed that no other players can keep up with, great stamina that never show any sign of tiredness and the never say die spirit that threw her body for every ball, that is what I observed in the few matches she played in. The only question that remain unknown is, she will start 2006 as world number one, a player that everyone wanted to beat, can she prove to the world than she possess the staying power, or will she crumble under pressure? Can she remains humble and keep on working hard under all the fame and limelight, or will she be another victim to complacency? Mohammad Hafiz Hashim took a career tumble after winning the All England, his brother Roslin Hashim never produce any good results after reigning for few weeks as world number one, another squash hero Ong Beng Hee suffer a dip in form after rising to world number 7 and tumble down the ranking, all eyes are on Nicol now whether she will rise up to the expectation,or just falter to be another fluke,the answer remains to be found out.

Nowadays girls seems to hook the limelight and outdone the guys in sport arena, even in badminton, the one gold and one silver in SEA games came women doubles and women singles, the men players can only settled with bronze in individual events which they are widely tipped to win. So what happen to the guys? The did not perform up to expectation and need to women players to save the grace of our country’s reputation as the dominant badminton powerhouse in South East Asia.

Speaking about the SEA games, it was delightful to know that emerging young athletes gave a respectable showing and our country has bright future in sports. However, Malaysian nowadays paid less attention to SEA games and treat it as a small event that did not deserve a wide recognition from the public. Most of the Malaysians to not even know how many golds our country have won in the games, or even where was it being held, it was a shame for the country, and for the games as well for not doing enough publicity.

Soccer is the favorite sport in Malaysia but its the only A listed sport that we failed to produce a gold medal in SEA games. Malaysian soccer has received lucrative sponsor of funds, full support from all over the country and world class training facilities, it was weird why it could not develop yet heading towards a slump. The team’s lack of spirit, teamwork and clumsy display on the pitch says it all. Nicol’s achievement has been the one of the greatest success in Malaysian sport since the 1992 Thomas Cup win, but that win was a team effort, she did it with her solo effort. Nicol David and her success has singled outshone Malaysia’s success in SEA games and popularity of soccer in Malaysia, all hail the girl power, please buck up and do something guys!!