WHILE Malaysia have a decent number of talented athletes coming up the ranks as highlighted by Timesport here, many of the sports have stagnated in the past four years.
Malaysia's overall performances at the Sea Games and Asian Games underlined this sobering fact — the numbers don't lie.
The Sea Games, especially, are an important benchmark for Malaysia.
This is because Malaysian athletes compete against their Asean counterparts who have similar physical strength and aerobic capacity.
Malaysia was slow out of the gates after the Covid-19 pandemic, and it is evident now as the country continues to fall behind its Asean neighbours.
Our Asean rivals such as Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand are willing to invest in development programmes. No surprise they are doing well in sports.
But the Sports Ministry is taking steps to put Malaysia back on track.
And its plans to strengthen the grassroots for sports such as athletics, swimming and martial arts, the three biggest medal contributors in multi-sport games, should be lauded.
However, the young talents produced from these initiatives need to have continual development in realising their full potential.
Perhaps a new support programme in the mould of the Road to Gold, but for youngsters with huge potential such as Azeem Fahmi (athletics) and Mitsuki Leong (tennis) should be formed.
Talents like them need to be based abroad if they are to become world beaters as they are competing in highly competitive sports.
The main focus for next year will no doubt be the Paris Games, and every Malaysian is hoping that the country will finally win its first ever Olympic gold medal.
MOST OUTSTANDING ATHLETES
SHE REEN SAMSON VALLABOUY (ATHLETICS)
Shereen cracked the late
Rabia Abdul Salam's 30-year-old 400m women's national record by clocking 51.80s in April and broke G. Shanti's 200m mark (1998) with a 23.33 run in August.
Shereen also won the 400m gold at the Phnom Penh Sea Games (May) and bagged a bronze at the Hangzhou Asian Games (September), which ended Malaysia's 17-year medal drought in the sport.
AZEEM FAHMI (ATHLETICS)
Azeem is the fastest man in Malaysia, having set a new national 100m record of 10.09s last year, and went on to clinch bronze at the Hangzhou Asian Games, ending a 41-year wait for Malaysia in the blue riband event.
AZIZULHASNI AWANG (TRACK CYCLING)
After undergoing open heart surgery last year, Azizulhasni came back better than ever by claiming two gold, in the individual sprint and keirin at the Asian Championships in Nilai in June.
S. SIVASANGARI (SQUASH)
Sivasangari suffered injuries in a car crash last year which left many doubting she would be able return to her best. She made a fairytale comeback, leading the women's team to gold at the Hangzhou Asian Games and also claiming the singles crown.
NG EAIN YOW (SQUASH)
Eain Yow turned the tables on tournament favourite Saurav Ghosal of India and clinched the men's singles gold at the Hangzhou Asian Games despite an earlier loss to Saurav in the men's team event semi-finals.
QABIL AMBAK FATHIL (EQUESTRIAN)
Qabil's story is one of perseverance as he claimed his maiden gold medal (individual dressage) astride his trusted Rosenstolz at the Hangzhou Asian Games after 25 years of trying.
SYARUL AZMAN MAHEN ABDULLAH (BODYBUILDING)
The evergreen Syarul, 50, claimed his sixth title at the World Bodybuilding and Physique Sports Championships in Gangwon in November and also retained his crown at the Asian Bodybuilding And Physique Sports Championships in Nepal in September.
NATASHA ROSLAN (BOWLING)
Despite an injured thumb, Natasha beat teammate Sin Li Jane in the final, and won the women's singles title at the World Championships in Kuwait in October.
ARIF AFIFUDDIN MALIK (KARATE)
Debutant Arif became the first Malaysian karateka to win gold at the Asian Games since 2014. Despite an eye injury during the men's Under-84kg final, he was still able to beat Kazakhstan's Daniyar Yuldashev.
R. SHARMENDRAN (KARATE)
Sharmendran became the most successful Malaysian karate exponent in Sea Games history after winning his fourth consecutive gold (men's Under-75kg) in Phnom Penh in May.
BONNIE BUNYAU GUSTIN (PARA POWERLIFTING)
Bonnie once again bettered his own world record in the men's Under-72kg class after clearing an impressive 231kg en route to defending his World Championships title in Dubai in August. He went on to win gold at the Hangzhou Asian Para Games.
ARIF AIMAN HANAPI (FOOTBALL)
The winger had another great season for club and country, helping JDT dominate domestic football and also shining on the international stage.
WONG WENG SON (WUSHU)
Weng Son claimed his second World Championship gold in Texas in November, six years after winning his first gold in 2017 in Kazan.
NUR SHAZRIN LATIF (SAILING)
Shazrin won the women's ILCA6 class gold at the Hangzhou Asian Games, which also secured her a ticket to next year's Paris Olympics.
O UTSTANDING TEAMS
NATIONAL SENIOR FOOTBALL TEAM
Harimau Malaya qualified on merit for the Asian Cup for the first time since 1980. Malaysia are now ranked world No. 130, not far from their all-time best of No. 124 in 2006.
JOHOR DARUL TA'ZIM
All-conquering JDT successfully defended their Charity Shield, FA Cup, Malaysia Cup and Super League titles this season.
NATIONAL WOMEN'S SQUASH TEAM
The women's squad, led by S. Sivasangari, recaptured the Asian Games team gold after upsetting defending champions Hong Kong in the final in Hangzhou.
NUR AIN NABILAH TARMIZI-ALEENA AHMAD NAWAWI (LAWN BOWLS)
The pair won the world title at the Gold Coast in Australia in September, becoming Malaysia's first female lawn bowl world champions.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
AARON CHIA-SOH WOOI YIK (BADMINTON MEN'S DOUBLES)
Aaron-Wooi Yik were in the bizarre situation of having won the World Championships last year but had yet to win a BWF world tour title.
That ended in October when they won the Denmark Open. They also won bronze at both the World Championships in Denmark and the Hangzhou Asian Games.
NATIONAL RUGBY SEVENS TEAM
The squad created history in claiming Malaysia's first ever medal — a bronze — in the Asia Rugby Sevens Series in Bangkok in October.
ANIQ KASDAN (WEIGHTLIFTING)
Aniq bagged bronze in the men's Under-61kg class clean and jerk at the World Championships in Riyadh in September.
He also won a silver (clean and jerk) and bronze (overall) at the IWF Grand Prix in Doha earlier this month.
TAN CHEONG MIN (WUSHU)
Cheong Min claimed two gold (nanquan, nangun) at the Phnom Penh Sea Games, before going on to clinch silver (combined nanquan and nandao) at the Hangzhou Asian Games, and gold at the World Combat Games in Riyadh in October.
UNDERACHIEVERS
NATIONAL HOCKEY TEAM
The Speedy Tigers were expected to challenge for gold at the Hangzhou Asian Games as it would earn them direct qualification to the Paris Olympics. They were, however, disappointing and failed to make it past the group stage.
NATIONAL SWIMMING TEAM
The swimmers struggled to make an impact at the Phnom Penh Sea Games and showed little improvement over their performance at last year's Hanoi edition.
Their disappointing performances triggered a change in leadership during Malaysia Swimming's annual general meeting-cum-elections in June.
KELANTAN FC
Kelantan finished last from 14 football teams in the Super League, their worst
showing since being formed in 1946.
MOST PROMISING ATHLETES
BERTRAND RHODICT LISES (DIVER)
Rhodict, 18, unexpectedly reached the men's 10m platform individual event final at the World Championships in Fukuoka in July.
His performance earned him a ticket to next year's Paris Olympics.
MITSUKI LEONG (TENNIS)
Mitsuki, 19, competed in his first full season on the senior tour this year and did not take long to make an impact, winning his maiden title at Nakhon Si Thammarat (ITF M15) in September.
JOHAN GHAZALI ZULFIKAR (MUAY THAI)
Phenom Johan won five fights in a row in the ONE Championship series this year, and has been earmarked as a future world champion. Realising his potential, ONE has given him a RM460,000 contract.
NATIONAL HOCKEY TEAM
The Speedy Tigers were expected to challenge for gold at the Hangzhou Asian Games as it would earn them direct qualification to the Paris Olympics. They were, however, disappointing and failed to make it past the group stage.
CONTROVERSIES
UNPAID SALARIES IN M-LEAGUE
The issue of clubs not paying salaries continues to haunt Malaysian football. As the M-League season ended in October, more cases continued to emerge despite the various initiatives by authorities to tackle the problem over the years.
LEE ZII JIA AND THE MEDIA
Zii Jia suffered a slump in form and received harsh criticisms from both fans and the media this year.
The former All England champion appeared to have walked out of an interview with reporters during the Hangzhou Asian Games.
His team denied he snubbed the media and said that he was adhering to the time limit for interviews set by the organisers.
YAZAN AL-ARAB BAN (FOOTBALL)
Jordan international Yazan's contract was terminated by Selangor and he was banned for life from Malaysian football by FAM after kicking a referee during the second leg of the Malaysia Cup quarter-final against Terengganu in September.
BIZARRE SPAT BETWEEN SPORTS COMMISSIONER AND OLYMPIC COUNCIL OF MALAYSIA
In November, a leaked audio clip of Sports Commissioner Suhardi Alias emerged in which he was heard threatening to deregister OCM and drawing parallels between it and the Israeli government. The clip was an excerpt from a closed door meeting with two eSports groups and appeared to be made in jest.
It, nevertheless, outraged OCM who demanded an apology from Suhardi. The apology never came but the Sports Commissioner's Office did express regret in subsequent statements.
NATIONAL STADIUM'S SWITCH TO ZEON ZOYSIA GRASS
In theory, the zeon zoysia grass should have made the pitch better. But the transition process was poorly managed.
The pitch was clearly not ready for the Merdeka Tournament in October and the grass came loose during matches. The pitch sustained substantial damage during the Coldplay concert last month and could not be restored in time to host the Malaysia Cup final earlier this month.
MALAYSIA AT THE SEA GAMES AND ASIAN GAMES
THE national contingent suffered their worst ever Sea Games performance in Phnom Penh, finishing a lowly seventh overall and failing to hit the 40-gold medal target after claiming only 34 gold, 45 silver and 96 bronze.
Malaysia at the Hangzhou Asian Games (September-October)
After failing in Phnom Penh, the Sports Ministry set a pessimistic 27-medal target for Hangzhou without specifying the number of gold aimed for. They claimed this was to put less pressure on the athletes.
The contingent went on to win 6-8-18 for a 32-medal total with squash players unexpectedly contributing three out of the six gold medals won. Malaysia previously won 7-13-16 (36 total) at the 2018 Indonesia Asian Games.
DEATHS
AMARJIT SINGH JESSY (HOCKEY)
Widely respected referee who received the FIH Golden Whistle Award - died in February, aged 59.
M. RAMAYAH (GOLF)
Legendary golfer who represented Malaysia in the World Cup a record 13 times - died in March, aged 67.
GAN TEIK CHAI (BADMINTON)
Former national doubles player who won bronze at the 2007 Sea Games and 2009 Australian Open - died in August, aged 40.
DATUK ABU SAMAH WAHAB (CYCLING)
Malaysia National Cycling Federation president - died last month, aged 82.
ALIUDDIN JUMAAT (ATHLETICS)
Former national pole vault record holder and decathlon silver medallist at the 2013 World Masters Championships - died in July, aged 67.
HARUN JUSOH (FOOTBALL)
Played in 1972 Munich Olympics - died in October, aged 75
B. SATIANANTHAN (FOOTBALL)
Charismatic football coach who was named M-League Coach of the Year in 2010, 2012 and 2017 - died in July, aged 65.
HANAPIAH NASIR (ATHLETICS)
Multi-talented athlete who won four Sea Games gold in the long jump, 110m hurdles and decathlon - died in July, aged 65.
ALLAN HOOI (BOWLING)
Gold medallist at the 1978 Asian Games and 1979 World Championships - died in August, aged 80.
SHAHARUDDIN ABDULLAH (FOOTBALL)
Played in 1972 Munich Olympics - died this month, aged 75.
IBRAHIM MYDIN (FOOTBALL)
Former national player who helped Selangor win the Malaysia Cup in 1968, 1969 and 1971 - died in August, aged 79.