|
|
Hong Kong Open 2009
Finals Player Introductions
Women's Final
Nicol David (Malaysia)
Nicol David is the undisputed world number one, having won the
World Open Title four times in the last five years, has been
world number one since August 2006, and has lost just five
matches in the last three and a half years. She is the reigning
World Champion, British Open Champion and Asian Champion and
Asian Games Champion.
She was the first player ever to win the World Junior
Championship twice, in 1999 and 2001, and has gone on to win 42
titles in the 90 WISPA Tour events she has played.
She won her first World Open title here in Hong Kong in 2005,
won the Hong Kong title in 2006, 2007 and 2008, and is currently
on a run of 24 consecutive victories in Hong Kong.
At home in Malaysia she is rumoured to be more famous than the
Prime Minister, and last year became the youngest ever
sportsperson to be awarded the title of Datuk.
This year alone she has won the Cayman Islands Open, the Texas
Open, the Seoul Open, the World Games, the Malaysian Open, the
Singapore Masters, and last month in Amsterdam she retained her
World Open title.
Nicol is 26 years old, and lives in Penang and Amsterdam.
Omneya Abdel Kawy (Egypt)
Omneya Abdel Kawy is Egypt's most successful female squash
player of all time. She is currently ranked number 8 in the
world, her highest ranking being number 6.
After winning the British Junior Open title for a record four
times from 2001 to 2004, and becoming World Junior Champion in
2003, she has gone on to reach 18 WISPA Tour finals, winning 6
titles.
In 2008 she helped Egypt to win the Women's World Team
Championship for the first time, and this year she retained her
Hurghada International title, also in Egypt.
Omneya is 24 years old, was born in Giza and lives in Cairo.
Head to Head
David and Kawy have met 16 times, with David winning 15 of
those. The last time they met was in the World Games semi-final
earlier this year in Chinese Taipei.
Men's Final
Amr Shabana (Egypt)
Currently ranked number three in the world, Amr Shabana is a
three-time World Champion and held the number one position for
almost three years between 2006 and 2008.
His first world title came in Pakistan in 2003, but it was
winning the world title here in Hong Kong in 2005 that really
put him at the top of the squash world, and he went on to
capture his third world title in Bermuda in 2007.
In total he has 24 PSA Tour titles to his name, but it is here
in Hong Kong where he had had his most enduring success, winning
the title in 2006, 2007 and 2008, he is on an unbeaten run of 25
matches in Hong Kong.
This year he has won the Malaysian Open, the US Open, and last
month he won the deciding match in the final to give Egypt the
World Team Championships in Denmark.
Amr is 30 years old, he comes from and lives in Cairo, and he is
married with two daughters.
Gregory Gaultier (France)
Currently ranked number two in the world, Gregory Gaultier is a
two-time World Open finalist and five-time European Champion and
is a three-time French National Champion.
After winning the British Junior Open title in 2001 he has
played 85 PSA Tour events, reaching the final in 35 and winning
16 titles including the British Open, the US Open, and the
Internationaux de France.
This year he has won the Tournament of Champions in New York and
successfully retained his Super Series Finals title at Queen's
Club in London, as well as reaching the finals of the Hurghada
International and the Sky Open in Egypt.
Gregory is 26 years old, was born in Epinal and lives in
Aix-en-Provence, France.
Head to Head
Shabana and Gaultier have met 17 times with the Frenchman
leading 9-8. This will be their fourth consecutive meeting in
Hong Kong, and the third time in a row they have contested the
final , but this is the first time they have played each other
this year .
|
 |
|
