GEORGE TOWN: Malaysia's squash queen Datuk Nicol David has been appointed Penang Tourism Ambassador 2022.
The 38-year-old Penang-born athlete will be the face of Penang in its tourism promotions and programmes domestically and around the world.
The position was conferred on her by Yang di-Pertua Negri Tun Ahmad Fuzi Abdul Razak at Eastern & Oriental Hotel here on Thursday (Dec 23).
Also present at the ceremony were Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow,
state secretary Datuk Dr Ahmad Jailani Muhamed Yunus, tourism and creative economy committee chairman Yeoh Soon Hin, Penang Global Tourism (PGT) chief executive officer Ooi Chok Yan and Consul-General of Japan in Penang Orikasa Hiroyuki.
Nicol thanked the state for the honour.
"Penang is where I grew up and will always belong.
"Whenever I travel, there is a sense of pride when mentioning Penang, my hometown.
"It has been a dream of mine to contribute back to it someday, and I thank the state for the opportunity," she said.
Nicol, an eight-time world champion and arguably the greatest women’s player in the history of squash, was No 1 in the world for a record-breaking 108 months until September 2015.
In February, she was named the World Games' Greatest Athlete of All Time after topping a poll conducted by the International World Games Association.
Throughout an illustrious career that spanned nearly 20 years, Nicol won the World Open a record eight times between 2005 and 2014.
She also won the British Open five times, two Commonwealth Games gold medals and seven Asian Games titles.
On the Professional Squash Association Tour, Nicol amassed 81 titles.
Nicol was born in 1983 and raised as part of a multicultural family.
Her mother Ann Marie David, 74, a retired school teacher, is Chinese, while her father Desmond David, also 74, is a mix of Indian and Eurasian.
He retired as an engineer and was once a state athlete.
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