Nicol David beats Annie Au to win her ninth Asian Squash Championship

Nicol David registered a comfortable win over Annie Au in the final

World No. 1 Nicol David crushed defending champion Annie Au 12-10, 11-7, 11-8 to win her ninth Asian Championship at the Sheikh/Salem Al-Sabah International Squash Complex in Kuwait. Nicol had won the title before in 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2011.

After an even first game where Annie had chances to take the lead, Nicol opted for aggressive play that drew a couple of unforced errors from the Hong Kong player. Annie was no match for Nicol in the second and third games as the Malaysian recorder her 19th win over Annie.

Annie had made it to the finals with a tough 7-11, 11-9, 9-11, 12-10, 11-4 win over Delia Arnold in the semifinal.

Nicol will now look to extend her winning run at the British Open (May 9 -17) where she is the defending champion.

Leo Au made up for her sister’s loss by upstaging third seed Abdullah Al-Mezayen 11-7, 11-9, 13-11 in the final in just 47 minutes.