KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 2 — Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin today congratulated squash icon Datuk Nicol Ann David who was named The World Games’ "Greatest Athlete of All Time” following an online poll.

On Facebook, Muhyididn expressed hope that her latest accolade would spur others to pursue similar success.

"I would like to share my proud feelings with all sports fans in the country, especially squash, on the success of the former national squash queen, Datuk Nicol Ann David who was just crowned as the Greatest Athlete of All Time, yesterday.

"The victory proves that her contribution, sweat and action all this while has continued to be noticed by the world, even though the former world number one player for 109 consecutive months has hung up her racquet.

"I hope Nicol’s success will motivate all Malaysians to fight and make the country proud in any field they are involved in. To the young generation who are just getting used to this sport and the upcoming players who are still developing their performance, use Nicol’s success as a fuel to go further,” Muhyiddin said.

David received a total of 318,943 votes, coming ahead of tug-of-war champion Jame Kehoe, and powerlifter Larysa Soloviova by over 200,000 votes.

The poll featured 24 athletes and concluded at 11pm on Sunday.

Collectively, 1,204,637 votes had been cast.

Malaysians have since taken to social media platforms to congratulate David.

Prior to her retirement in 2019, David had dominated the international squash scene, having held the world number one ranking for a record-breaking 108 months in a row.