Sheffield squash champ honoured

Three-time squash World Champion Nick Matthew OBE was honoured on Monday, July 18, with an honorary degree by the University of Sheffield for his outstanding contribution to sport.

Matthew, who was born and still lives in Sheffield, is a three-time World Champion, three-time British Open Champion, eight-time British National Champion and double Commonwealth Games Gold medallist.

He continues to train at the Hallamshire Tennis and Squash Club in Sheffield where he has also established the Nick Matthew Squash Academy, which provides tuition and guidance for young squash players.

On receiving the honour, Nick Matthew said: “It means the world, I’m standing alongside people who have grafted for years and years for this honour today and it’s quite humbling.

“To stand alongside people in politics, engineering and medicine and I chase a ball around a box for a living so it’s very humbling but such an honour at the same time.”

The former world number one addressed the graduating class on the importance of ‘finding their niche’,

Other recipients included The Right Honourable the Lord David Blunkett and Her Excellency, Dr Amal Abdulla Al Qubaisi, the first female President of the United Arab Emirates Federal National Council.