Things You Didn’t Know About Our Favourite Top 5 Malaysia Female Athletes!

1. Goh Liu Ying

A 28 year old professional badminton player, she caught the public’s attention most notably during the 2016 Olympics games with her partner Chan Peng Soon, and finished with an admirable Silver medal in the Mixed Doubles category.
There’s indeed no harm in reaping the benefits of your hard earned efforts – she unashamedly admits to sleeping with her prized Olympics medal right at her bedside.
Liu Ying took a lengthy 9-month break from playing professionally back in 2014 due to a knee surgery, which was the result of an aggravated slip and fall injury at the lockers for which she made a successful slip and fall claim. Just two months ago in May, she underwent an operation on her shoulders and is currently recuperating.
This Malaccan lass once attended modelling school, and we dare say she’s an absolute sweetheart on AND off the court!
If you’re lucky enough to cross paths with her on the streets, keep an eye out for a tattoo on the index finger of her left hand – her choice of ink reads ‘Destin’, that translates to fate in French.

She became the first ever Malaysian female athlete at the 2012 games to ever win an Olympic medal, other than in Badminton.
Pandelela begun her professional training at a tender age of eight(!).
This superwoman reveals a weakness many of us can relate to – her favourites include sambal udang petai and chicken wings. Yum!
A self-confessed K-popper, she picks Korea and Japan as two of her bucket list destinations.
Like a true all-rounder, Pandelela is currently enrolled in a Sports Science course at Universiti Malaya in hopes of giving back to the community when she retires from the competitive scene (fingers crossed it’s not anytime soon!).

This pretty Subang Jaya lass first burst into the public scene in a rather unfortunate (albeit unnecessary) controversy – a well known MP had criticized her leotard as being too revealing and un-Islamic. As for my thoughts, I echo our homegirl’s sentiment, “Empty cans make the most noise.”
Her choice of attire during competitions ultimately depends on mood – she loves the occasional burst of bright colours while at times she may keep it contemporary with a gorgeous monochromatic hue.
Farah suffered her very first major injury when she was just 11 – it took her nearly a year to recuperate from a very bad fall during a tournament.
Sportsmanship apparently runs in the family, with her sister Katrina Ann being an ex-national swimmer for the synchronized swimming team.
Having a major dislike for gory movies, Farah finds solace instead in watching few of her favourite actresses on screen, most notably Angelina Jolie and Emma Watson (because who doesn’t?).

Hailed as one of the greatest women’s squash players of all time, Dato’ Nicol proved her rightful claim to the throne by winning the coveted WSA Player of the World for a jaw-dropping total of seven times. Also youngest person to ever receive a Datukship title from Penang at the age of 25, because she definitely earned it!
Despite being of a mixed Chinese-Indian ethnicity, she is only proficient in English and Malay (sadly, this is of my case too T.T).
She used to dream of being an engineer when Mathematics was her strongest subject back in school.
Chill time for her is basically lots of doodling and collecting pieces of art. She even harbours hopes of setting up her very own art gallery if she has enough!
Being a signature household name, there was even one point of time when our ex-Prime Minister, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, good-naturedly quoted that Nicol is “now more famous than me”.

Awarded the Malaysian Olympian of the Year award in 2007, her dedication and commitment to professional swimming begun back in 2003, back when she was 15-years-old.
Cai Lin suffers from scoliosis, a condition that results in an abnormal curve in the spine. This proves to be a challenge in the professional career as she constantly have to compensate strength due to the imbalance at her shoulders. She had just completed a surgery in May to prevent her condition from getting worse, so sadly Malaysians won’t be seeing much of her in the SEA Games due to her recuperating at home.
Like a true-born Malaysian, fried chicken and sinful chocolate lava cake are two of her guilty pleasures.
She lovingly chooses her mother as the greatest person in her life, and affectionately grants her the title of ‘scoliosis warrior mother’.
Her love for swimming was purely accidental – her eldest sister took up swimming at first to improve on her asthmatic condition, and Cai Lin was just tagging along to keep her company. What a turn of events indeed!