Wednesday March 20, 2013
Delia hopes to draw inspiration from her little sister
BY KNG ZHENG GUAN
Slip and sliding: Delia Arnold has seen her ranking dropped to No. 32 in the world. PETALING JAYA: National No. 3 Delia Arnold is looking to draw inspiration from her younger sister, Rachel, to kickstart her challenge in the CIMB KL Open squash championship from March 26-31.
The 27-year-old Delia has not been performing well and has failed to get past the qualifying rounds of two tournaments this year – the Greenwich Open in January and the Cleveland Classic last month.
The KL-born player, who was ranked as high as No. 20 last year, has also suffered a big drop in the world rankings and is currently at No. 32.
But Delia is feeling inspired after watching her 16-year-old sister’s superb display during the NSC Series No.1 last week.
Rachel stunned three higher ranked players en route to finishing as runner-up.
“I’m really happy and proud of Rachel for making her first Women’s Squash Association (WSA) final,” said Delia.
“It was a really good achievement and hopefully it’s just what she need to keep on doing better in her game.
“Her fearless performance against higher ranked players and the way she coped with the pressure has also inspired me and I’ll certainly draw heart from it next week.”
Delia who has never gotten past the first round in eight previous attempts will certainly need to feel inspired in her ninth try as she will be up against world No. 2 Raneem El Weleily of Egypt in the first hurdle.
“I’ve never went past the first round in all my years and this time it’s equally hard too with such a tough draw,” said Delia.
“But being the wildcard, I’m bound to take on either one of the top four players and it’s just my luck.
Besides Delia, the other Malaysians in the main draw are world No. 1 Nicol David and world No. 6 Low Wee Wern.
Nicol, gunning for her ninth successive title, will take on a qualifier in the first round, while Wee Wern will have a tricky first round clash with Australia’s Donna Urquhart.
In the men’s event, national No. 1 Ong Beng Hee and No. 3 Mohd Asyraf Azan will start from the main draw.
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