I refer to your article “Raneem's turn" (NST, March 6). Nicol David has nothing to lose or feel ashamed of in losing to her arch-rival, Egyptian World No 2 Raneem El Weleily in the Windy City Open final in Chicago, which resulted in her not winning her 80th World Squash title.
The tough Egyptian player, El Weleily recovered from dropping a marathon first game to register a 14-16, 12-10, 11-7, 11-7 win in 58 minutes, and this is her fourth victory over Nicol David in the last 21 meetings.
For the record, so far this year, this is Nicol's second defeat after having lost in the quarter-finals of the Tournament of Champions in January against England’s Alison Waters.
Winning and losing at the highest level is a “pressure cooker” situation, especially for world champions to maintain their winning streak; but, athletes do have their off-days, where they are not good enough on competition day. We had seen this in Rory Mcllory, the World No 1 golfer currently of missing a cut at the US PGA event last week, or in women's tennis, when Serena Williams or Maria Sharapova have a bad day, and so on, in many other sports.
The Egyptian also avenged a painful defeat to Nicol in the World Championship final in Cairo, her hometown, last December, and again in the Cleveland Classic final last month.
Now, the World No 1, Nicol, can avenge her defeat at the next major tournament in May, the British Open. So, this loss should not shake her confidence, but reframe the experience. It is important to learn and improve from defeat, and to do so requires Nicol's long-time coach, Liz Irving, to assess clearly and dispassionately what Nicol needs to do better.
Anyway, setbacks are part of the journey towards future, even greater, success, instead of being the end of the story.
Nicol, keep up your persistence, and your hard work, perseverance and right strategy will bring back your winning ways.
C. Sathasivam Sitheravellu,
Seremban, Negri Sembilan.