Nicol David joins WSF Ambassador visit to Kenya

London, April 3, 2019: Shortly after bringing her illustrious professional squash career to a close, the sport’s ultimate Nicol David joins WSF will join fellow players Camille Serme and Borja Golan for the 2019 WSF Ambassador Programme visit to Kenya, where the latest World Squash Federation initiative will be hosted by Kenyan Squash community in the country’s capital Nairobi.

Launched in 2011, the WSF international promotional initiative takes leading squash players, together with an international coach and referee, into younger squash nations to help raise the sport’s profile – through clinics, exhibition matches, refereeing and coaching seminars, and media presentations.

Joining Malaysia’s former world No.1 David, France’s world No.4 Serme and Spaniard Golan, a former world No.5, will be Belgian national coach Ronny Vlassaks and international referee Marko Podgorsek, from Slovenia.

The 2019 campaign will take place from 27-30 June.

David (pictured above with Golan and the Mayor of Zagreb Milan Bandic during the 2015 visit to Croatia) is a tireless squash campaigner and ambassador.

The 35-year-old record eight-time world champion played significant roles in all of the sport’s Olympic bids since 2005;

was the leading light in several Women’s Tour Promotional visits to raise the profile of the sport in all corners of the globe in the 11 years preceding the WSF Programme;

and participated in four of the ‘Ambassadors’ initiatives from 2011 to 2015.

“We are all excited as this is truly the biggest event yet for our sport,” said national representative Gakuo Ndirangu.

“The timing is perfect: Squash is now really on the up and with all the squash clubs taking up a greater initiative in the promotion of the game at all levels and having great players, coach and referee here in June will stimulate this even more.

Events will be hosted by Parklands Sports Club (pictured below) and the Nairobi Club, with all others joining in too.”

WSF CEO Andrew Shelley added:

Nicol David joins WSF: “We look forward meeting and interacting with the Kenyan squash community and help the national federation boost the sport’s profile.”

The WSF Ambassador Programme first visited the Baltic country of Latvia in 2011, followed by a trip to the African countries of Malawi and Namibia, then Panama and Venezuela in 2013, Papua New Guinea in 2014, before focussing on the Balkan region in 2015 with appearances in Serbia, Romania and Croatia.

In 2016, the team visited Dalian and Macau in China.

After the 2017 edition postponed, the WSF team headed to Armenia. —- WSF