Outdoor sports In the broadest definition of sports—
physical exercise of all sorts—the four most popular recreational sports among the general population of Malaysia are
exercise walking,
aerobic exercise,
strength training, and running. Most Malaysians live in housing areas with amenities such as
public parks,
pedestrian zone,
health clubs and sport complexes nearby. Other 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).
Paragliding was recently introduced sport in Malaysia.
Racquet sports and
Tan Boon Heong The
Malaysia national badminton team has won 6 silver medals and 5 bronze medals in badminton in the Olympic Games since the sport was first introduced to the Olympics in 1992. In 1992,
Razif Sidek and
Jalani Sidek became the first ever Malaysian Olympic medallists, winning the bronze medal in men's doubles. In 1996,
Rashid Sidek won the bronze medal in men's singles while
Cheah Soon Kit and
Yap Kim Hock won the silver medal in men's doubles.
Lee Chong Wei won three silver medals in men's singles each in 2008, 2012 and 2016. In 2016,
Chan Peng Soon and
Goh Liu Ying won silver medals in mixed doubles while
Tan Wee Kiong and
Goh V Shem won silver medals in men's doubles.
Aaron Chia and
Soh Wooi Yik won two bronze medals in men's doubles each in 2021 and 2024. In 2024,
Lee Zii Jia won bronze medal in men's singles. In singles, where Malaysia has a weaker team than the doubles, the top men's shuttler is world number 10
Lee Zii Jia, followed by world number 24
Leong Jun Hao and world number 45
Justin Hoh. while Malaysia's best women's singles shuttler is
Goh Jin Wei ranked world number 43, followed by world number 50
Letshanaa Karupathevan and world number 75
Kisona Selvaduray. National top men's doubles pair,
Goh Sze Fei and
Nur Izzuddin are placed world number 2, followed by Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik who are ranked world number 5 as well as
Man Wei Chong and
Tee Kai Wun who are ranked world number 7 while the top women's doubles pair,
Pearly Tan and
Thinaah Muralitharan are ranked world number 4, followed by
Go Pei Kee and
Teoh Mei Xing at 25 and
Ong Xin Yee and
Carmen Ting at 60. Top mixed doubles pair,
Goh Soon Huat and
Shevon Jemie Lai are ranked world number 3 followed by world number 5 pair
Chen Tang Jie and
Toh Ee Wei as well as world number 14 pair
Hoo Pang Ron and
Cheng Su Yin in the
BWF World Ranking (as of 6 May 2025). The Malaysia national badminton team is ranked world number 4 alongside
Japan national badminton team in the BWF World Team Ranking (as of 1 April 2025). 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.
Squash in Malaysia is governed by the
Squash Racquets Association of Malaysia (SRAM). The
Kuala Lumpur Open and
Malaysian Open are annual squash tournaments held in Malaysia. The
Malaysia men's national squash team has reached the quarterfinal stage at the
World Team Squash Championships six times. The men's team has won the
Asian Squash Team Championships three times. The
Malaysia women's national squash team has won the silver medal once and bronze medal at the
World Team Squash Championships four times. The women's team has won the
Asian Squash Team Championships seven times.
Nicol David is an eight-time world champion and ranked
world number 1 in woman squash since 2006. Her compatriots
Low Wee Wern and
Delia Arnold are ranked world number 7 and 28, respectively in the
WSA World Rankings (as of January 2015).
Precision sports Hizlee Rais is ranked world number three in the World
Bowls Singles Ranking List (as of 20 April 2013).
Cycle sports In
2016,
Azizulhasni Awang made history for winning the first Olympic bronze medal in a
cycling event. In
2021,
Azizulhasni Awang made history again for winning the silver medal in 2021
Olympic men's keirin final. Malaysia hosts two international road cycling tours: the annual
Tour de Langkawi and
Jelajah Malaysia. Both races are part of the
UCI Asia Tour. The Tour de Langkawi is the biggest cycling event in Asia and it is the one of five two hors-category (
2.HC) classified races in Asia. 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.
Azizulhasni Awang,
Josiah Ng,
Mohd Rizal Tisin,
Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom,
Fatehah Mustapa and
Jupha Somnet are among the top track cyclists in Malaysia.
Loh Sea Keong won the general classification and Asian rider classification at the
2013 Jelajah Malaysia.
Mohamed Harrif Salleh and
Mohamed Zamri Salleh won the points classification and mountain classification respectively at the
2013 Jelajah Malaysia.
Water sports Pandelela Rinong took a bronze medal in
10-metre platform event at the
2012 Summer Olympics. She became the first female Malaysian athlete to win a medal at the Olympics, as well as the first to win an Olympic medal in any sport other than Badminton.
Bryan Nickson Lomas,
Yeoh Ken Nee,
Leong Mun Yee,
Cheong Jun Hoong,
Traisy Vivien Tukiet and
Nur Dhabitah Sabri are among the top divers in Malaysia.
Extreme sports Abdil Mahzan was the leader of 2012 World Cup Points final standings. Abdil Mahzan earned the title of IGSA World Cup Series Champion in the
street luge event. His personal best maximum speed is 131 km/h, achieved at the 2011 IGSA World Championship in Teutonia, Brazil.
Endurance sports Malaysia host some international
marathon event such as the
Kuala Lumpur Marathon,
Borneo International Marathon and
Penang Bridge International Marathon.
Combat sports 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 (, ), an alternative name for muay Thai.
Motor sports in 2010. Malaysia's largest motorsports venue is the
Sepang International Circuit in the
Sepang district, which opened in 1999. The track hosted the
Formula One Malaysian Grand Prix from
1999 to
2017.
A1 Team Malaysia was the Malaysian
A1 Grand Prix team.
Alex Yoong,
Fairuz Fauzy,
Nabil Jeffri,
Jazeman Jaafar,
Nazim Azman and
Weiron Tan are among the top race car drivers in Malaysia. In 2018,the Malaysian trio of
Nabil Jeffri,
Jazeman Jaafar and
Weiron Tan won the
2018 6 Hours of Fuji in the LMP2 Class during the fourth round of
2018–19 FIA World Endurance Championship, becoming the first Malaysian drivers to win a
FIA World Endurance Championship race. The
Malaysian motorcycle Grand Prix is part of the
Grand Prix motorcycle racing season.
Zulfahmi Khairuddin,
Hafizh Syahrin and
Khairul Idham Pawi are the top Malaysian motorcycle racers.
Khairul Idham Pawi became the first ever Malaysian to win a Grand Prix motorcycle racing in the Moto3 class in
2016 Moto3 in
2016 Argentine motorcycle Grand Prix at
Autódromo Termas de Río Hondo and
2016 German motorcycle Grand Prix at
Sachsenring.
Hafizh Syahrin became the first Malaysian and Southeast Asian rider to compete in the
MotoGP premier class in
2018 for
Yamaha Tech3 and
2019 for
KTM Tech3.
Air sports 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). ==Team sports==