KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 — Over the years, Malaysia has showcased remarkable prowess in various sports, demonstrating its potential to shine at the Paris Olympics 2024.
With a roster of fresh talents boasting impressive records, Malaysia is set to compete in 10 categories, including archery, swimming, cycling, and athletics.
Here’s a look at the sports where Malaysia is poised to make a significant impact and perhaps even secure historic victories.
Diving
Malaysia has had a strong tradition in diving, with athletes like Datuk Pandelela Rinong, Cheong Jun Hoong and Nur Dhabitah Sabri previously making significant impacts on the international stage.
Pandelela is a two-time Olympic medallist and has won a total of five medals at the World Championships.
Cheong, meanwhile, is a three-time Olympian, with her best achievement at the 17th Fina World Championships in 2017, where she won a gold medal in women’s 10 metres platform event, making her Malaysia’s first world diving champion in history.
This time around, Malaysia will see 25-year-old Nur Dhabitah and 18-year-old Bertrand Rhodict Lises compete in the women’s 3m springboard individual event and the men’s platform individual event, respectively.
Nur Dhabitah, who previously competed alongside Pandelela and Cheong, will be heading to Paris after Malaysia received an additional quota for diving from World Aquatics.
Both Pandelela and Dhabitah were unable to secure direct qualification earlier.
Nur Dhabitah made her Olympic debut in Rio de Janeiro, finishing fifth in the women’s 3-meter springboard and also competed in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where she placed fourth after a strong performance.
Bertrand is ranked 10th in the world for the individual platform event. His achievements include a bronze medal in the Cambodia SEA Games last year, and finishing 10th in the 20th edition of the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan the same year, the latter which earned him a spot to compete in the Olympics.
Swimming
Malaysia has not seen much triumph in swimming championships after the glory days of competitive swimming icons such as Jeffrey Ong and Nurul Huda Abdullah.
Ong is a two-time Olympian, while Nurul Huda competed at the 1988 Seoul Olympics in the 200, 400, and 800 metres freestyle events and had also swept an impressive count of medals in several swimming championships in Asia.
That, however, might change with swimmers Steve Khiew Hoe Yean and Tan Ruoxin, who will be seen in the men’s 400m freestyle and women’s 100m breaststroke categories respectively in Paris.
Khiew made waves this year with a double victory at the Singapore National Swimming Championships, winning both the 400m and 800m freestyle events. He previously placed fourth in the 400m freestyle and sixth in the 800m freestyle at the Australian National Championships.
Tan also made significant strides leading up to the Olympics, securing gold in the 200m individual medley (IM) and bronze in the 100m breaststroke at the Malaysia Open Swimming Championships and also earned a bronze medal in the IM category at the Singapore National Swimming Championships.
Khiew and Tan will train with the Paris-bound Danish team to prepare themselves.
The duo’s coach Eric Anderson told Malay Mail that they were selected via a wild card routine which will allow the highest-ranked male and female athletes to be sent to the Olympics.
“There are time standards, like selection standards that are extremely high-level, top 15 in the world. I would say most countries are sending athletes through wild card selections.
“This is the biggest sporting event on earth so having them step into that environment and do their best performance by hitting personal bests. If we can achieve that, then I am very happy,” Anderson said when met recently.
Badminton
Badminton is arguably Malaysia’s strongest sport on the global stage.
Notably, badminton was also the sport that secured Malaysia’s first-ever Olympic medal — a bronze — through Jalani Sidek and Razif Sidek, in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.
Since then, the country has produced several top-ranked players and Olympic medallists, including Datuk Lee Chong Wei, who was a dominant force in men’s singles for many years.
Malaysia’s badminton infrastructure and talent pool are also robust, rendering a strong chance of triumph in the Paris Olympic Games.
Naturally, Malaysia’s badminton squad for Paris is the largest, featuring eight athletes who have consistently delivered impressive performances.
The competitors are Pearly Tan, M. Thinaah, Aaron Chia, Soh Wooi Yik, Lee Zii Jia, Goh Jin Wei, Chen Tang Jie, and Toh Ee Wei, each who have carved names for themselves.
All eyes will undoubtedly be on doubles pair Tan and Thinaah, first-time Olympians and world number 13, following their promising performance in several qualifiers, in the run-up to the Olympics.
Cycling
In cycling, Malaysia has seen success in disciplines such as track and road cycling.
Datuk Aaron Chia, Malaysia’s most prominent faces for the said sport and four-time Olympian, has achieved impressive results, including a gold medal in the keirin event at the 2017 UCI Track Cycling World Championships and a silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Azizulhasni will compete in the keirin event, alongside Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom. His team also comprises new faces Nurul Izzah Izzati Mohd Asri and Nur Aisyah Mohamad Zubir.
Nurul Izzah will be competing in two categories; keirin and sprint, while national road cyclist Nur Aisyah will be competing in the women’s road cycling category.
Nurul Izzah is currently ranked number two in Asia in the sprint and keirin categories, while Nur Aisyah is ranked sixth in road cycling.
