KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 10 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim lauded the performances of several Malaysian athletes for their groundbreaking achievements in 2025.
He singled out badminton world mixed doubles champions Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei as well as women’s doubles runner-up pair Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan for their efforts at the recently concluded world championships.
“Apart from them we also garnered 25 gold medals, 16 silver and 11 bronze medals at the Deaf SEA Games, while Datuk Latiff Romly again broke his own world record in the long jump world championships,” said Anwar while tabling Budget 2026 in Parliament today.
“Let us all give them a rousing applause befitting of heroes and heroines who fly our Jalur Gemilang with pride on the world stage,” he added.
“Seeing this, we must continue to produce world-class athletes and develop sports in the country, so the government is allocating a substantial budget of RM580 million for the high-level sports programme ‘Road to Gold’, as well as preparations for the Asean, SEA, and Para Asean Games in 2027.
“The allocation is also for developing para and deaf athletes, improving the existing infrastructure and maintenance for youth and sports activities nationwide as well as to improve the quality of fields at schools under the education ministries purview,” he added.
To promote national sports development activities, the government has agreed to allow organisations approved by the Internal Revenue Board to use part of the income received to carry out sports activities.
Pearly Tan and M. Thinaah made history in Paris today when they became the first Malaysian women’s doubles pair to advance to the final of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Championships, while Chen and Toh won Malaysia’s first mixed doubles world title with a sensational victory over world No. 2 China‘s Jiang Zhen Bang and Wei Ya Xin in the final of the 2025 World Championships in Paris, winning in straight sets 21-15, 21-14.
