Nicol David Gains Sponsor

Kuala Lumpur Malaysia 5/3/2000.

HOTEL EQUATORIAL ANNOUNCES WORLDWIDE SPONSORSHIP OF NICOL DAVID, MALAYSIA’S TOP RANKED WOMEN’S SQUASH PLAYER AND WORLD SQUASH JUNIOR CHAMPION

Hotel Equatorial is pleased to announce its worldwide sponsorship of Ms Nicol David, Malaysia’s number one ranked female squash player and current World Squash Junior Champion.

The two year sponsorship commenced on 1 March 2000. David is also sponsored on the WISPA tour by Dunlop squash. This sponsorship agreeement signals both the strong popularity of squash in Malaysia and the growing importance of the WISPA tour

This is the first such sponsorship by Hotel Equatorial and as Ms. Geraldine Loh, Group Director of Marketing Communications explains, “There wasnever any doubt who the candidate should be when the idea of such a sponsorship was mooted. We wanted to be associated with an individual who shared similar ideals and aspirations in his/her field as Hotel Equatorial does in the hospitality industry. In Malaysian sports, no one stands for these things better than Nicol David. In our meetings with Nicol, we have found her to be highly motivated, disciplined and skilled. She strives for excellence not only in her game of squash, but also in her academic pursuits. Her competitive spirit and desire for excellence goes far beyond her age. Nicol competes in an international arena and does so successfully and we see that there are many parallels with the corporate vision and values of the Hotel Equatorial group.”

Nicol will endorse the Equatorial brand by wearing the Equatorial logo patch on the sleeve of her playing arm or on her skirt in all local, regional and international squash tournaments during the sponsorship term.

Nicol is a 16 year old lass who currently lives, schools and trains in Penang (Malaysia). Her squash career began in 1992 when she first won a silver in the Under 14 category of the Penang State Junior Championship. Nicol’s first national level win was also in 1992 at the Milo-Dunlop National Junior Interstate Championship where she won the silver for the Under 16 category.

In 1994, Nicol was selected for the Commonwealth Games training which was centralised in Penang. In that same year, she was placed first (gold) in the Under 13 category in her first regional tournament in the Fuji Film Hong Kong Junior Squash Open. 1994 also saw Nicol’s debut at the Scottish Junior Open where she won the Under 12 championship. Since then, Nicol has participated in the Scottish Junior Open regularly where she has consistently won the championship in the categories she has entered.

During the SUKMA 1996 (Malaysia), she was part of the Under 21 squash team that won the gold medal. This success was repeated at the SEA Games too. Nicol won her first Asian Championship titles for both individual and team category in 1998 and then went on to win the gold medal at the Bangkok Asian Games in the same year.

Her record for the 1999 season was even more sterling, where major highlights included the British Junior Open (Under 17, Champion), the Asian Junior Champion for both individual and team events, the German Junior Open (Under 19, Champion), the World Junior Championship (Under 19, Champion), the SEA Games (Champion in the Senior and Team categories) and the British Junior Open Champion in the Under 19 category.

Her rise has been meteoric and she shows tremendous promise as she progressively moves on to the women’s category of competitive squash.

As Geraldine summarizes: “Nicol is a role model to the youth of Malaysia and around the world. Despite the pressure of international squash, Nicol, along with her two siblings (who are just as involved in the sport), is still very much guided by her close knit family. The heady success and tremendous achievements so far have been tempered by strong family values, which is why you will find her to be a very down to earth person. This sense of commitment, competitive spirit and desire for excellence balanced with a strong family environment are factors that Hotel Equatorial identifies with and we are indeed very pleased to be associated with Nicol.”

Hotel Equatorial is a hotel chain that operates 9 properties in the Asia Pacific region. All Equatorial hotels are categorised as superior first class hotels and are located in gateway cities in the region: Kuala Lumpur, Bangi, Penang, Melaka and Cameron Highlands (Malaysia), Shanghai and Qingdao (China), Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) and Yangon (Myanmar).

Hotel Equatorial operates on a simple but effective philosophy - to provide quality business class accommodation at affordable prices. It has, over the years, earned a reputation for offering a consistently high level of service, both in accommodation and its food and beverage outlets.

Interested in watching and learning from the best? Great women's squash videos have just been made available: The Eye Group has produced the complete Women's British Open Final in a well filmed, well produced, and interesting contest. Jean Delierre has made available a video of the 1992 Women's World Open final between legendary Susan Devoy and (at the time) up coming Michelle Martin. Devoy won the match and retired that same day.