Anif clinches national U18 doubles title
Published on: Tue, Apr 29, 2025
By: GL Oh Text Size: Anif (back) and Damien. Kota Kinabalu: Sabahan Datu Anif Datu Asrah captured the men's doubles title at the just concluded Petronas National Under-18 Badminton Championship 2025 held at the Akademi Badminton Perak in Ipoh over the weekend. The 17-year-old BAM (Badminton Association of Malaysia) based player partnered Damien Ling Tang Le and lived up to their top seeds status to defeat third/fourth seed Zi Hin Heng and Ethan Oh Jun Hui 15-6, 15-12 in the final. However, he was unable to repeat the success in the mixed doubles as the top seeds when he and Dania Sofea from Johor had to settle for silver after losing to second seeded pair Lo Ziheng and N. Maisarah Ramdan 16-14, 10-15, 14-16 in a nail-biting final. Another Sabahan Muhammad Nur Azhar Zunaide also did well in the men's doubles to take home the bronze medal with Siau Yu Hang from Johor as his partner. The pair were forced to concede a walkover to Ethan and Zi in the semi-final due to Siau's injury sustained during the quarterfinal three-set 4-15, 15-13.17-15 win over BAM pair Isyraf Hafizin Ibrahim and Ungku Mohamed Ungku Ameer Alif. Sabah Badminton Association (SBA) president, Datuk Dr. Maijol Mahap in a statement on Monday said he is very proud of their achievement. 'Anif has already displayed his potential at the Asian Youth Championships in Indonesia last year. 'His success this time further proved that his partnership with Damien Ling and Dania Sofea are on the right track to achieve more success in the future. 'The success of Anif and Nur Azhar proved that our players not only have the talent and agility on the court, but also possess fighting spirit. 'In addition we also have other junior players such as Shim Hymn Isiah, Saidatul Saadiah, Lim Xe Xuan and Jing Xuan Chua who showed great potential in the tournament,' he said. He added that Sabah also brought home four bronze medals in the 1st Leg of the Junior Elite Tour (JET) Badminton Championship held in Melaka in February, as well as one silver medal and two bronze medals in the 2nd Leg held in Selangor earlier this month. 'With the positive outing, SBA is currently actively implementing badminton development programmes with special focus on players who excelled in JET 1, JET 2 and the U18 championship. 'Some of them will be absorbed into the Sabah Badminton Academy which is being established, while others will continue training at the Malaysia Badminton Academy and the Bukit Jalil Sports School. 'This is part of a larger project from SBA to restore the glory of Sabah badminton on the national stage,' he said. * Follow us on Instagram and join our Telegram and/or WhatsApp channel(s) for the latest news you don't want to miss. * Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available.
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