Other most popular sports are bicycling, swimming, climbing, camping, bowling, hiking and fishing. Scuba diving is another recreation, particularly around the southeastern region of Sabah (on the island of Borneo).[4]Paragliding was recently introduced sport in Malaysia.
In singles, the top men's shuttler is world number 4 Lee Zii Jia while Malaysia's best women's singles shuttler is Goh Jin Wei ranked world number 33. National top men's doubles pair, Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik are placed world number 2 followed by Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi who are ranked world number 8 and also followed by Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin who are ranked world number 18 while the top women's doubles pair, Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan are ranked world number 8 and top mixed doubles pair, Goh Soon Huat and Shevon Jemie Lai are ranked world number 8 followed by world number 13 pair Tan Kian Meng and Lai Pei Jing in the BWF World Ranking (as of 11 April 2023).[5] The Malaysia national badminton team is ranked world number 4 in the BWF World Team Ranking (as of 4 April 2023).[6]
Malaysia has won the Thomas Cup, the world men's team trophy, five times since it was first contested in 1949 and has been runner-up nine times as of 2014. In 2022, Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik won gold medal in the men's doubles sector at the BWF World Championships, making history as the first ever Malaysian badminton player to win gold at the prestigious event. Malaysia also holds its own annual international badminton tournament, the Malaysia Open, which is now part of the Badminton World Federation's World Tour Super 1000 event and the Malaysia Masters, which is now part of the Badminton World Federation's World Tour Super 500 event.
Track cycling is a growing sport in Malaysia. Malaysia has velodromes such as National Velodrome at Nilai and Velodrome Rakyat at Ipoh The Velodrome Rakyat is also Malaysia's first velodrome.
Abdil Mahzan was the leader of 2012 World Cup Points final standings.[10] Abdil Mahzan earned the title of IGSA World Cup Series Champion in the street luge event.[11] His personal best maximum speed is 131 km/h, achieved at the 2011 IGSA World Championship in Teutonia, Brazil.
The indigenous martial art of Silat is widely practiced throughout Malaysia. Among Malaysian Chinese and Malaysian Indians, a wide variety of Chinese and Indian martial arts is also popular, such as the art of Silambam among Malaysians of Tamil Indian origin.
In the northern states of peninsular Malaysia, i.e., Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu, which were historically influenced by the neighbouring Thai culture, the Thai national sport of muay Thai is practiced. Locally, it is known as tomoi, which is the Malay rendition of the term toi muay (Thai: ต่อยมวย, RTGS: toi muai), an alternative name for muay Thai.
Paragliders Malaysia (PGMY), Malaysia Sports Aviation Federation (MSAF), Persatuan Luncur Udara Malaysia (PLUM), Persatuan Luncur Udara Terangganu (PLUT) and Persatuan Luncur Udara Sabah (PLUS) are among the many established organisations working together to develop the paragliding sport in Malaysia.
Several international paragliding competitions were held in Malaysia since 2013 such as Bahau International Paragliding Competition (2013), Jugra International Paragliding Accuracy Championship (2015), Paragliding Accuracy World Championship (2015).
Sepak Takraw in Malaysia is governed by Persatuan Sepaktakraw Malaysia (PSM). The men's team is ranked world number two in the ISTAF World Ranking (as of 13 November 2014).[15] The women's team is ranked world number three in the ISTAF World Ranking (as of 13 November 2014).[16]
Malaysia was a founding member of the Asian Hockey Federation.[17] The national team is Malaysia's representative in field hockey tournaments around the world. In the usual course of things, the team is made up of the best field hockey players in Malaysia. The governing body for the sports is the Malaysian Hockey Confederation. The Malaysia Hockey League (MHL) is a top league competition for field hockey clubs in the Malaysian hockey league system.
The National Sports Day (Malay: Hari Sukan Negara) is a national sports day in Malaysia, held annually on the second Saturday in October, with the main objective of promoting a healthy lifestyle among its population. The first National Sports Day was held in 2015.[23]
The Sukma Games (Malay: Sukan Malaysia) are a national biannual multi-sport event held since 1986, involving young athletes from Malaysian 13 member states and the Federal territory. The games is regulated by the National Sports Council of Malaysia, the state sports council of the respective member states, the Olympic Council of Malaysia and the National Sports association of the games respective sporting event.[24]
Para Sukma Games
Para Sukma Games (Malay: Para Sukan Malaysia), are a multi-sport event held for Malaysian athletes with disabilities.[25][26] The games was previously known as the National Games of Malaysia For the Disabled (Malay: Sukan Kebangsaan Bagi Orang Cacat Anggota Malaysia) from 1982 until 1998 and the Malaysian Paralympiad (Malay: Paralimpiad Malaysia) from 1998 until 2018 and held separately with Sukma Games until 2010.[27][28]
Sopma Games
Sopma Games (Malay: Sukan Orang Pekak Malaysia) are a national biannual event held for deaf athletes. It was previously known as the Deaf Interclub Sports Championship (Malay: Kejohanan Sukan Antara Kelab Pekak, KSAKP) from 1985 until 1990 and the National Deaf Games (Malay: Sukan Kebangsaan Orang Pekak, SKOP) from 1990 until 2009.[29][30]
Malaysia first participated at the 1993 Summer Deaflympics, and has sent athletes to compete in every Summer Deaflympic Games since then, except the 1997 and the 2013 Summer Deaflympics. The nation has never competed at the Winter Deaflympics. Malaysian Deaf Sports Association is the governing body of deaf sports for Malaysia. Malaysian athletes have won a total of eleven medals at the Deaflympic Games: one gold, seven silver and three bronze.
On 28 July 1984, TV3 became the first commercial channel in collaboration with RTM bringing Malaysians the live coverage of the Los Angeles Olympics.
On 25 March 2010, Astro Arena, the country's first local sports channel went on air. Astro Arena (Channel 801) a 24-hour local sports channel will be delivered predominantly in Malay and available to all Astro customers under its Family Pack..
