Top five greatest badminton players from Malaysia

Three-time Olympics medallist Lee Chong Wei tops the list.

Badminton is perhaps the most popular non-traditional sport in Malaysia. And ever since the rise of the Sidek-brothers, some of the greatest badminton players from Malaysia, the country has accepted the game as their unofficial national sport. As per thesportingblog.com, almost 12.19% of Malaysians play the sport.

With the popularity that badminton enjoys in the country, there must be a lot of great players to have represented them. We take a look at the list of the greatest badminton players from Malaysia:

5. Lee Zii Jia

Lee Zii Jia has been one of Malaysia’s biggest superstars in men’s singles after the retirement of Lee Chong Wei. He became the third Malaysian player to win an Olympic medal in men’s singles. Jia defeated India’s Lakshya Sen in the bronze medal playoff at the Paris Olympics 2024.

Jia won the All England Open in 2021 after defeating defending champion Viktor Axelsen in the final. The match lasted for an hour and 14 minutes which included the first game being won by Jia with a score of 30-29.

Notable achievements of Lee Zii Jia include:

Bronze medal in Summer Olympics 2024

Gold medal in Asian Championships 2022

Bronze medal in Sudirman Cup 2021, 2023

Bronze medal in Thomas Cup 2024

4. Aaron Chia/ Soh Wooi Yik

The duo of Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik have been one of the legendary men’s doubles badminton players from Malaysia. They were World Champions in 2022 and have held the World No. 2 in the BWF men’s doubles rankings. They also won the bronze medal in the Tokyo Olympics 2020.

The duo have runners-up finishes at the All England Open 2019 (BWF Super 1000 event), the Thailand Open 2020 (II) (BWF Super 1000 event) and the India Open 2023 (BWF Super 750 event). And given their rich run of form, it would be hard to bet against them not winning their first BWF World Tour title in the ongoing season.

Notable achievements of the duo include:

Bronze medal in Summer Olympics 2020

Gold medal in World Championships 2022

Bronze medal in Sudirman Cup 2021

Silver medal in Asian Championships 2022

Gold medal in the 2022 edition and silver medal in the 2020 edition of the Asia Team Championships

3. Razif Sidek/Jalani Sidek

Sidek brothers are the reason behind the popularity of the sport and some of the greatest badminton players from Malaysia. The five brothers played and won several international top-tier competitions while also coming up with newer creative ways of playing it, especially the “S” serve.

Razif and Jalani, in particular, won 18 IBF World Grand Prix titles and three World Grand Prix Finals together. But the bronze medal in the 1992 Barcelona Games would definitely be the dearest achievement of the two.

After retiring, the duo took up coaching and continued developing the game in the South-East Asian nation. While Razif Sidek coached the first Malaysian Olympics silver medal-winning duo of Cheah Soon Kit and Yap Kim Hock, Jalani groomed and trained multiple future international stars.

Notable achievements of the duo include:

Bronze medal in Summer Olympics 1992

Silver medal in the 1987 edition and Bronze in the 1989 edition of World Championships together and Bronze medal in the 1980 edition for Jalani Sidek

Two Gold medals, one Silver medal and four Bronze medals in the World Cup

One Gold medal, three Silver medals and one Bronze medal in the Thomas Cup

One Gold medal, two Silver medals and two Bronze medals in the Asian Championships

Silver medal in men’s team and Bronze medal in men’s doubles events in Asian Games 1990

2. Cheah Soon Kit/Yap Kim Hock

The duo of Cheah Soon Kit and Yap Kim Hock are, as aforementioned, the first to win an Olympics silver medal in Badminton for Malaysia. They played as a pair only for five years and yet feature on the list of the greatest badminton players from Malaysia, such was their dominance. They were consistently one of the top-ranked teams in the world.

Apart from the historic silver medal in Atlanta, they also won one gold medal and two silver medals in the World Grand Prix Finals. Cheah Soon Kit also groomed the current stars of Malaysian badminton, the duo of Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik.

Notable achievements of the duo include:

Silver medal in Summer Olympics 1996

Silver medal and Bronze medal in World Championships together and a Silver medal in World Championships for Cheah Soon Kit with a different partner.

Three Bronze medals in World Cup together and two Gold medals and a bronze medal for Cheah Soon Kit with different partners.

Two Silver medals in Thomas Cup together and one Gold medal, two Silver medals and one Bronze medal in Thomas Cup for Cheah Soon Kit with different partners.

One Bronze medal in Asian Games together, two Silver medals for Cheah Soon Kit with different partners and one Bronze medal for Yap Kim Hock with a different partner.

One Gold medal and one Bronze medal in Asian Championships together, three Bronze medals for Cheah Soon Kit with different partners and a Silver medal for Yap Kim Hock with a different partner.

1. Lee Chong Wei

Lee Chong Wei is the only singles player on the list of the greatest badminton players from Malaysia. The Malaysian holds the record for most Olympics medals won in badminton (three Silver medals). He spearheaded the most successful edition of the Olympics for Malaysia in 2016, as they returned with four Silver medals and a Bronze medal.

He was ranked World No. 1 on the BWF rankings for 349 weeks, becoming the only Malaysian to hold on to the top ranking for more than a year. In his career spanning over 19 seasons, Lee Chong Wei won 69 titles and finished runners-up in another 34.

Notable achievements of Lee Chong Wei include:

Silver medals in the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics

Three Silver medals and a Bronze medal in World Championships

Bronze medal in Sudirman Cup 2009

One Silver medal and four Bronze medals in Thomas Cup

One Silver medal and four Bronze medals in Asian Games

Two Gold medals and two Bronze medals in Asian Championships

Bronze medal in Asian Team Championships 2018

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