PETALING JAYA: Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh is banking on squash to give Malaysia its first Olympic medallist in women's sports since Rio 2016.
Squash will be making its Olympic debut at Los Angeles 2028 and Yeoh believes that Malaysia's women players have what it takes to end the drought.
Divers Cheong Jun Hoong-Pandelela Rinong won silver for Malaysia in the women's 10m platform synchronised event while Goh Liu Ying and partner Chan Peng Soon also claimed silver in the badminton mixed doubles event at Rio 2016.
No Malaysian woman finished on the podium at Tokyo 2020 nor the recently concluded Paris games.
Yeoh said Malaysia has plenty of talented women's players in squash.
"When I looked at the list of Malaysian medallists from the Paris Olympics and Paris Paralympics, I could not find a single woman on the list," said Yeoh today after officiating the launch of the ACE Malaysia Squash Cup here today.
"At LA2028 we will not just be in search of a gold medal, I also want to see a girl rise up to the occasion and be on the podium.
"Squash is one of the rare sports in Malaysia where there are more (Malaysian) women in the top-100 of the world rankings than men.
"We have also recruited squash legend Datuk Nicol David to help us achieve this. She is now on the board at the National Sports Institute."
Yeoh added that early preparation for LA2028 is especially important in squash.
"When we first heard that squash was going to be included at LA2028 last year we immediately began preparations," said Yeoh.
"This is important if we are to win medals as China has also started to prepare their players for LA2028."
Yeoh added that tournaments such as the ACE Malaysia Squash Cup will play an important role in developing Malaysian talent in the sport.
The PSA World Tour Series bronze-level tournament will be held on Nov 12-17 at The Curve. ACE Sports and Management Sdn Bhd, who are organisers of the event, will be building a glass court at the mall.
"I think having this event at a mall is a great idea as it could inspire children who happen to be at the mall to also take up squash," said Yeoh.
"I remember Datuk Azizulhasni Awang said he was inspired to become a cyclist after watching Le Tour de Langkawi pass through his village when he was a child."
Over 100,000 spectators are expected to watch the Malaysia Squash Cup which is offering a US$103,000 (RM447,000) prize purse.
ACE Sports, which also organises many other tournaments in Malaysia, has also partnered with the University of the West of England (UWE) which will see scholarships being offered to young Malaysian professional players.
Former Olympic Council of Malaysia president Tunku Imran Tuanku Ja'afar also attended the launch event.