And… Vanessa Atkinson beats top seed Nicol David in a rather tight game (9-6, 9-2, 9-10, 9-7) that saw Atkitson drop her first game in New York. This means that Vanessa Atkinson has captured the first major women’s squash title this year, and is progressing steadily towards unseating our champion Nicol David of her World No. 1 ranking.

If Nicol David fails to win the Kuala Lumpur Open (Feb 15-18), of which she is defending champion, Vanessa Atkinson will regain the World No. 1 ranking lost to her in January this year.

Note: I’m not very sure about what I wrote in the paragraph above this one. It could be that Vanessa Atkinson has already regained the World No. 1 ranking with this victory over Nicol David (regardless of whether Nicol wins or loses the KL Open). Support for this version of events can be seen in today’s New Straits Times:

The Malaysian faced World No 2 Vanessa Atkinson of the Netherlands in the final early this morning with the winner is assured of the World No 1 ranking next month.

Edit: Today’s (9th Feb.) Malay Mail article on Nicol David’s loss clarifies this. Apparently, this loss will not affect her World No. 1 ranking.

(Source: The Squash Site)

On a more positive note (compared to today’s other posts), our top women’s squash player - and current World No. 1 - Nicol David, has progressed to the Apawamis Open finals by beating Rachael Grinham (AUS) in the semi-finals, 9-7, 9-2, 1-9, and 9-5.

The day before, Nicol David beat Engy Kheirallah of Egypt to reach the Apawamis Open semi-finals. Her next match will be against Vanessa Atkinson of the Netherlands - who could unseat Nicol David from her World No. 1 ranking if Nicol fails to win either the Apawamis Open or the Kuala Lumpur Open on Feb 15 to 18.

1. Cartoon Firestorm - Our PM has made a statement on the issue - denouncing the cartoons, yet urging calmness.
   

   “They should cease and desist from doing so,” Abdullah added, though he stressed that Malaysians should remain calm and not take any irrational measures to protest the caricatures.

2. Chinese vs Public Schools - Should we not aim to send our children to public schools, instead of differentiating through vernacular schools? A poster on the Star’s Citizen Blog blogs on this.
   

   I mean, she basically needed money to send them to a chinese vernacular school. However, in her situation, where money is scarce, shouldn’t she just consider sending them to a normal government school, which is free?

   Indeed, anyone has to admit that such an action would be a logical one. But the real issue here isn’t the money, the donations, our education system or class differentiation. It is our freedom of choice. The mother is free to choose which school to send her child to and the public is free to choose whether or not to donate (a right that the blog post’s writer has exercised).

3. Asian Youth Championships: 1-2 Finish - Congratulations to Aaron Kong and Zulmazran Zulkifli for their 1-2 finish at Fairlanes Bowling Centre yesterday.