The foresight in investing in youth development has yielded substantial dividends for Malaysian sports, with eight talents nurtured by SportExcel set to compete at the Paris Olympic Games. The Olympic Games from July 26 to Aug 11 will feature eight athletes who have emerged from junior sports development programmes organised by Sime Darby SportExcel. Among them are Gavin Green and Ashley Lau in golf, Johnathan Wong in shooting, Khiew Hoe Yean and Tan Rouxin in swimming, and Azizulhasni Awang, Firdaus Shahrom, and Nurul Izzah Izzati Mohd Azri in track cycling. Several of them will also be make their Olympic debuts.

Ashley, a 24-year-old professional golfer, ranks 50th in the Olympic golf rankings for women and is the first Sarawakian golfer to qualify for the Olympics. SportExcel helped kickstart her journey by providing the launching pad for Ashley’s rise in 2016 and 2017 when she secured a golf scholarship with Hills Golf Academy in Australia. Rouxin, an 18-year-old swimmer, has achieved remarkable success, clinching six gold medals at the 2022 Malaysia Games (Sukma), which led her to be chosen for the Yayasan Sime Darby–SportExcel (YSD-SE) elite junior women athletes development project. She now holds the national record for the 100m breaststroke, and 200m and 400m individual medley records (short course). Izzah, who is from Kedah, made history as the first Malaysian cyclist to secure gold in the women’s 500m time trial event at the 2022 Asian Championships in New Delhi and will be the first Malaysian woman to compete in both keirin and sprint events at the Olympics. She was part of the YSD-SE sponsored Track Cycling Series in 2023 and 2024.

Tunku Tan Sri Imran ibni Almarhum Tuanku Ja’afar, the founder and chairman of SportExcel, extended his best wishes to all Malaysian athletes as well as to their respective National Sports Associations (NSA), sponsors, coaches, parents, and all those who have contributed to nurturing the athletes’ development. “SportExcel is delighted to have played a small part in facilitating their Olympic dream,” said Tunku.