Kuala Lumpur: Badminton is undoubtedly one of the most famous and popular sports in Malaysia, due to world class star athletes such as Lee Chong Wei, Tan Boon Heong and Koo Kien Keat have brought a lot of exposure to the sport. Furthermore, large amount of media coverage devoted to badminton also attributed to large-scale expansion of its fan base in Malaysia.
Despite these positive factors, 2015 has been a year of ups and downs for Malaysia in badminton. Malaysian still relies heavily on Lee Chong Wei for bringing glory to the country in men’s singles. In men’s doubles, despite haven’t play together for more than a year, former world No. 1 Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong have rocketed through the BWF rankings from No. 484 in April to No. 18 in December.
Throughout the 2015, there have been vacated coaching jobs and national players leaving Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM). Fortunately, young players such as Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin and Goh Jin Wei are few young players who have impressed this season, and are on the verge of breaking into the badminton scene and making it big in the future.
As the year end wraps up, BadmintonPlanet.com has put together a top 10 list of some important Malaysia badminton news that occurred in 2015, and wish badminton fans around the world a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!
10. SEA Games: Amelia Alicia Anscelly-Soong Fie Cho, Chong Wei Feng win gold
9. Goh V Shem & Tan Wee Kiong finally win their first title
8. Morten Frost ready to face task of reviving Malaysian badminton
7. Yeah baby, Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong are back!
6. French Open: Lee Chong Wei’s win puts him back on top of the world
5. Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei is world’s No. 1 junior badminton player
4. Iskandar Zulkarnain and Tee Jing Yi crowned Malaysia Champions
3. Lee Chong Wei too strong for Chen Long in China Open final (video)
2. BWF: Eight-Month sanction for Lee Chong Wei ends on 30 April, 2015
1. Return of the King: Lee Chong Wei captures Hong Kong Open (video)
