Nicol David joins sports legends as newest member of Laureus Academy

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s world-renowned squash player, Datuk Nicol Ann David has been officially announced as a member of the Laureus World Sports Academy.

The list was unveiled prior to the winners of the 2021 Laureus World Sports Awards are to be announced from Seville on May 6.

Academy Members are the greatest sports jury, who vote each year to decide the Winners of the Laureus World Sports Awards.

Three other female sports stars namely, stars Lindsey Vonn, Jessica Ennis-Hill and Paralympic hero Daniel Dias were also announced in the list.

These sports superstars are named as a member of the Laureus World Sports Academy, which pledges to use the power of sport to improve the lives of young people around the world.

David is arguably the greatest women’s player in the history of squash who became a Laureus Ambassador in 2014.

“This is truly an incredible honour to be recognised by Laureus as an Academy Member together with all the sporting greats in their field that have impacted the world of sports,” said David.

She was No.1 in the world for a record-breaking 108 months until September 2015 and has a stunning eight World Open titles between 2005 and 2014.

David is a highly decorated squash player who also won the British Open five times, two gold medals at the Commonwealth Games, 3 gold medals at the World Games and 6 gold medals at the Asian Games.

“I’ve always dreamed of being part of Laureus even when I was a young athlete. Sport is life changing and it has certainly changed my life. I will do my very best to contribute in fulfilling Laureus’ vision by reaching out to more children and communities in need through sport in my own country, Malaysia, and globally as well.” David adds.

The Laureus World Sports Academy consists of sporting superstars, each of whom attained the very highest level of achievement and jointly produced many of sport's most iconic and significant moments.

These sports jury have voted to select this year’s winners who will be revealed today in Seville.

With the addition of the new members announced, the Laureus Academy Members now has 71 in the team of jury.

Chairman Sean Fitzpatrick welcomed the new Members of the Laureus Academy.

“This is an incredible group of sporting super stars. We are delighted to have four such illustrious new members of the Laureus Family, I have spoken at length with them all and they cannot wait to begin to help us achieve our Purpose to support the work of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation which uses the power of sport to improve young people’s lives and help us fulfil the visionary words of our First Patron Nelson Mandela - ‘Sport has the power to change the world’."

Laureus is one of the most prominent platform and active sports-driven social enterprises functioning in the field of Sports for Development.

Since its launch, Laureus has facilitated to develop the lives of more than six million children and young adults, and now supports over 250 sports-based community programmes worldwide.