Our great squash icon Nicol David superb record as world no.1 for 9 years consecutively was taken over by Egyptian, Raneem El Welily 3 months ago. Currently Nicol is 3rd.
It has been a roller coaster year for our ‘Duracell Bunny’.
I said, “Nicol, I am not even close to feeling how you feel in this journey”.
As always her answer is inspirational and said looking forward to start a new and fresh chapter in her squash career.
I was a Malaysian elite athlete.
Life will never be the same for some of my colleagues.
One of them is Sazali Samad.
I have always admired not only his muscles but his very clean cut and shiny hair.
Sazali won Mr. Universe 10 times and 4-times national Sportsman of the Year.
Many idiolise Sazali but his world crumbled after having failed a doping test by the Malaysia Anti-Doping Agency in September this year.
National Sports Council of Malaysia has announced that all the special privileges and support to our Mr.Universe will be taken away from him effective immediately.
Sazali is a good guy. But I feel sorry that he made a mistake that would end his career.
What do I do now?
Is there life after this?
But hey! There are sad stories but time for good one too. Look at Lee Chong Wei. He faced an 8 month ban for a doping violation last year.
Our gold medal prospect in Olympic Games and former world no.1 ranking plunged to 180 in third week of June this year.
After Chong Wei got out from probably the most darkest period of his blossoming career, he made an impactful come back with few titles in hand and even beat Lin Dan and Chen Long in China Open. He now sits at no. 5 in the world rankings. He is feeling much stronger than ever.
Life will never be the same.
It depends how our beloved Malaysian athletes see it.
Sharon Wee
Mon Dec 21 2015