Dragon boat racing is a sport in which Malaysia can possibly win a medal in international competitions. — Photos: Filepic
From heart-pounding competition to the sheer joy of staying active, sports weave a vibrant thread through the fabric of our daily lives.
Whether we are watching our favourite teams or athletes in action in the arena or via television, taking to the court on weekends, or even representing the state or country in competitions, Malaysians generally love sports.
The most popular here are badminton and football, which have a wide and enthusiastic following.
In the international arena, local athletes have also excelled in the sports of squash, diving, karate and weightlifting.
There are, however, some lesser-known sports that Malaysians play or take part in that can be developed further. StarMetro highlights several of them.
Jombola-J
When the word “bola” is mentioned, the first thing that comes to mind is football.
However, Jombola-J is a racquet sport and very unique.
Jombola-J is an interesting racquet sport that can catch people’s interest fast.
It was invented by history teacher Sukdev Singh in 2012 after his retirement when he was not able to play tennis at his usual court.
“I spent two years researching, creating and doing all the testing of the equipment, coming up with the rules, then trying them out in schools, colleges and universities,” said Sukdev in an interview.
He even roped in the sports department of Universiti Malaya, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman and Universiti Putra Malaysia to test out the competition rules.
Jombola-J is a sport that combines tennis, table tennis and badminton into one sport.
A standard Jombola racquet.
It uses a badminton court with a low net.
Sukdev also created a gadget to aid in adjusting the height of the net so that players can switch the game easily.
Jombola-J uses a 11-point system for singles and 15 points for doubles.
It incorporates most of the badminton rules and strokes.
It has the footwork of tennis and uses a short and pedal- shaped racquet that is slightly bigger and heavier than a table-tennis bat.
“This is actually a foundational sport that allows and prepares people to go into any other racquet sport later on,” Sukdev said, adding that the combination factor of Jombola-J allowed players to easily pick up other racquet sports later.
“Jombola-J is easy to play anywhere and no specialised equipment is needed, while the risk of injury is low.”
He said the Youth and Sports Ministry and Education Ministry were both making efforts to introduce the sport in school in an effort to develop future talents in racquet sports.
Tower running
Tower running is a sport that involves organised events of competitors running up the stairs of notable skyscrapers including the KL Tower, Eiffel Tower in Paris (France) and Taipei 101 (Taiwan).
An advantage of tower running is that there is no specific or specialised equipment needed.
Participants have only to run up flights of stairs as quickly as possible in record time.
Soh running up the stairs during the Selangor Towerrunning Championship held in July at the Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Building in Shah Alam.
Malaysia’s Soh Wai Ching bagged first place in an international tower running competition at the Taipei 101 earlier this year.
The country is fourth in world ranking for the number of skyscrapers.
Having the second tallest building in the world – Merdeka 118 – gives Malaysians the opportunity to train and host such events.
Malaysia Towerrunning Association president Ravinder Singh said Malaysia obtained verbal agreement from the world body to host the world championship in 2026 at Merdeka 118.
He added that there was a potential for tower running to be an event in the 2027 SEA Games.
Karting
While most motorsports fans love watching Formula One, MotoGP or World Rally Championship, karting is usually ignored to the point where many may not know of it, unless they are a die-hard motorsports fan.
Karting is the most fundamental level of racing that all professional racers must go through to help them establish their future pathways into professional racing.
Karting is an essential stepping stone for potential Formula One drivers.
In fact most, if not all, Formula One drivers began their careers by karting, even in the case of renowned champions like Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and the late Ayrton Senna.
An issue with karting is its relatively high costs and the requirement of many specialised equipment and gear such as gloves and helmets, not to mention the frequent maintenance service for the kart.
Other than the financial obstacles, karting is also a very demanding sport that requires concentration, quick reaction and high endurance, thus making it relatively unexplored in Malaysia.
Fortunately for Malaysians who are fans of karting, the country has no lack of karting tracks nationwide – including in Sepang, Langkawi and Shah Alam – to hone their skills.
Several companies too are sponsoring promising young drivers.
Aquatic sports
Apart from diving, Malaysia has not really made a splash in the watersports world.
Sports like water polo, for instance, though popular overseas, have only a limited following here, not to mention lack of funding.
The national water polo team was not able to secure or set up a permanent training venue in the Klang Valley until a RM15,000 sponsorship deal was secured in 2023.
The lack of funding can hinder the growth of sports like water polo.
Another watersport that has the huge potential here is dragon boat racing, which is popular in South-East Asia and China.
The sport, which has its roots in China, involves 20 members in a team paddling the boat decorated with dragon heads and tails to victory.
Melaka is set to host the first Asean dragon boat tournament in October this year, and hopefully, this will encourage more locals to pick up the paddle.
Sailing, too, is something that Malaysia can develop. We already have some talented sailors, with Nur Shazrin Mohamad Latif having won gold in the Women’s ILCA 6 category at the Asian Games in 2022.
As for swimming, several schools and clubs have been organising competitions or leasing their facilities for practice or training, which will hopefully contribute to the increase in awareness of aquatic sports nationwide.
Artistic sports
The combination of arts and sports has existed for some time, like figure skating and rhythmic gymnastics.
Through the years, Malaysia has limited participation in these sports although some of our athletes have performed well in the SEA Games and in other competitions.
Lion dance is a form of artistic sport.
We can also look at lion and dragon dances as artistic sports.
Some even consider marching bands an artistic sport.
Some, like the Sri Dasmesh Pipe Band, represented the country at the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow in 2023.
Given enough support from the authorities and funding from public and private sector, more people can be encouraged to take up these lesser-known sports.
And who knows, there may even be medal possibilities at the Olympics one day.
