MANCHESTER World number one Nicol David has offered careful backing to the British Open, the sport's oldest tournament, as squash battles over declining prize money and sex equality.
The 26-year-old Malaysian super-celebrity is the youngest person to receive the title of Datuk, one of her country's highest civil awards, but appears to be developing a capacity for judgement beyond her years.
David achieved a judicious balance in choosing words of support for the ailing 87-year-old tournament - by keeping private her opinions about the status of women within it.
The worldwide economic downturn will cause this week's British Open to make a substantial loss, and almost brought a demoralising 40 per cent reduction in the women's prize fund until belated initiatives bolstered it.
The tournament has no title sponsor and is being bailed out by the i-SPORT group, which hopes one day to make the British Open the world's leading tournament again, but for now must survive 'flying in the face of a worldwide recession,' according to its chief executive Paul Walters.
David's continuing presence will do more than anything to maintain some credence in the tournament's long-lasting prestige, and there was a collective sigh of relief when she agreed to defend the title.
'I'm pleased to be able to participate in the British Open, especially knowing the situation this year throughout the world,' David said.
'The British Open coming through can create the impact we need for the sport to get the recognition it deserves.'
But David kept her own counsel about behind-the-scenes events which almost saw the women's prize money lowered to just 30,000 dollars - only about a third of the men's.
Only after last-ditch discussions did further financial help arrive, first from the English governing body, and then from extra i-SPORT input, raising the women's total to last year's level of 53,000 dollars.
That remains very much less than the women's World Open, which has 118,00 dollars in prize money, and also less than the Qatar Classic and the Hong Kong Open, which both have a 74,000-dollar purse, and the 60,000-dollar Seoul Open.
It is also significantly short of the men's British Open prize fund, which has actually been increased - by 10,000 dollars to 92,000 dollars.
This decision was taken to prevent the British Open losing its Super Series status on the (men's) Professional Squash Association's tour.
All that leaves the once-pioneering tournament surviving at no more than a respectable level, still trading on a past reputation gained from having created a stage for a host of legends, including the Khan dynasty from Pakistan, and Heather McKay, the Australian who won the British Open 16 times.
It was upon this that David focussed her comments.
'I would like to see this tradition continue because this is where every squash player, past and present, can identify as being part of squash history,' she said.
However David's coach, Liz Irving, the former British Open finalist from Australia, was much more forthright about the way in which the tournament had addressed the plight of women.
'You can't say 'listen girls we are struggling, we have to drop your prize money but the men's stays the same.' The women players would not support it,'Irving claimed.
'You would like to think that as the game has progressed from 20 years ago. But when you hear that, you think it hasn't done as much as you would like.
'It's great the British Open is going ahead, but people who want to watch both events. It's not just about the men.'
That conviction embraces a concern that a lack of gender equality might be perceived to contradict essential values of the Olympic movement, which squash has been keen to join.
'Actually the women are not even asking for equal prize money,' Irving said.
'About 70 per cent is fine - 30 or 40 per cent is not. I don't know how anyone could have supported that.' —AFP
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