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PSA PLAYER BIOGRAPHY Name: Peter Nicol Country: England Date of Birth: 5 April 1973 Height: 5' 11" (180 cm) Place of Birth: Inverurie, Scotland Place of Residence: London Current World Ranking (Feb 05): 4 Highest World Ranking (Feb 98): 1 National Ranking: 2 PSA Titles: 49 PSA Final Appearances: 68 |
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Peter Nicol
has enjoyed an illustrious squash career, achieving three ambitions he set
himself some years ago - winning the British Open, reaching world No1, and
becoming world champion. Born in Inverurie, near Aberdeen in Scotland, the left-hander won his first PSA Tour title in 1992. By September 1994, he was competing in his first Super Series final - the Hong Kong Open, in which he lost to world No1 Jansher Khan. It was in February 1998 that he became the first Briton ever to reach No1 in the PSA world rankings – thereby deposing his long-time rival Jansher Khan, who had held the position for an almost unbroken period of ten years. As world No1, Nicol was top seed for the 1998 British Open for the first time. He cruised through to the final without dropping a game, then triumphantly beat Jansher in the final. Nicol achieved this historic success on his 25th birthday, trouncing Pakistan’s six-times defending champion in straight games in front of a packed auditorium at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham to become the first Briton for 25 years to win the prestigious British Open title. In the men's final of the Commonwealth Games in Malaysia in September 1998 - squash's triumphant debut in this prestigious multi-sport event - Nicol beat his long-time adversary Jonathon Power to take the first ever squash gold medal in a match screened live on TV in Britain and many countries around the world. In September 1999, Nicol fulfilled his last remaining key goal in squash: It was his third successive appearance in the final, but on the famous open-air court erected on the desert sands by the Great Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, Nicol crushed local hero Ahmed Barada 15-9 15-13 15-11 to become World Open champion for the first time. In the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England, in July, Peter was seeded to become the first athlete to retain his singles gold medal - for a different country. He reached the final without dropping a game, but fell Power in the final, in four games, in his fourth successive loss to the Canadian in the year. Nicol went on to partner Lee Beachill to gold medal success in the Men’s Doubles – becoming the only person to win gold medals both in 1998 and 2002, and one of only two (with England’s Cassie Jackman) to win two medals in each Games. By his remarkable standards, 2003 was not Nicol’s best year on the PSA Tour. Despite winning the Tournament of Champions, US Open and Canadian Open, and reaching the final of the British Open, the former Scot ended his two-year unbroken reign as world No1 by appearing in the unlikely position of No3 in the PSA list on 1st January 2004. Quickly back to his best, Nicol lifted the Kuwait Open trophy in January 2004. Two weeks later he suffered a setback when he was forced to withdraw from his semi-final match in the British National Championships, suffering from extreme exhaustion. He staged a remarkable recovery and less than ten days later was back in action in the Tournament of Champions in New York. Seeded three, he reached the semi-finals without dropping a game, then beat Power 3/0 (extending his life-time tally against his Canadian rival to 20-17) to make the final for the fourth successive year. Incredibly, he beat No2 seed John White – who would become world No1 for the first time the following month – in straight games to claim the title for the third time. In April, fresh from a two-week charity trek in the Himalayas, Nicol stormed through the field of the PSA Masters in Qatar to beat David Palmer in four games in the final – and the following month reclaimed his world number one ranking. In September, Nicol achieved a notable milestone when he celebrated his 60th month at the top of the world rankings - and duly stormed through to the final of the US Open in Boston later in the month. After a disappointing start to the New Year in the USA, where he was a first round casualty in the Windy City Open in Chicago, Peter regrouped in the Dayton Open to cruise through to the final where he beat Amr Shabana in straight games to collect the 49th PSA Tour title of his career, in his 68th final appearance. Nicol’s supreme achievements in squash were recognised in the most distinctive manner in June 1999 – when he was awarded an MBE (‘Member of the British Empire’) by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth in the annual ‘Queen’s Birthday Honours’. He joins a distinguished group of squash players who have been similarly recognised in Britain – including Jonah Barrington, Lisa Opie, Martine le Moignan, Susan Devoy and Cassie Jackman. |
PETER NICOL TOURNAMENT SUCCESSES: Feb 05 Quarter-finalist
*Tournament of Champions USA Aug 92 Winner Albuquerque Open USA |