2019 has been a sad year for Malaysian sports: the greatest female squash player of all time, Nicol David, announced her retirement from the sport earlier this year. Then, last month, fellow great Lee Chong Wei decided to also hang up his racquet.

Their retirements have put Malaysian sports in a limbo, as they have no apparent successors lined up.

While the son of former badminton great Razif Sidek, Muhammad Fazriq Mohamad Razif, has declared that he wants to become the next Lee Chong Wei, it looks like we might have found our next Nicol David.

Proud girl with her trophy.
National squash player S. Sivasangari made the country proud by winning the 2019 Australian Open on Sunday (7 July).

According to a report by The New Straits Times, Sivasangari came from behind to defeat world number 53 Satomi Watanabe 5-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-9 in just 39 minutes.

“Satomi came out really strong and I was struggling in the opening set.

“I then played direct rallies a bit more from the second set and just stayed positive.

“We are really good friends and have played many times during our junior days. She is always aggressive and fights hard, today was the same,” she was quoted as saying.

Her victory at the Australian Open was the second tournament she won this year.

The 20-year-old, who is currently world number 48, also won the Racquet Club Pro-Series event in St. Louis in April this year.

It's still early to tell, but it looks like Sivasangari has the makings of becoming the next Malaysian great.

Congratulations, Sivasangari. Malaysia is proud of you!