From Non-Sports Person to Three Games a Week: Media Prima Boss Sees Big Future for Malaysian Pickleball
When Datuk Mohd Rafiq Mat Razali first picked up a pickleball paddle, he was hardly a sporting enthusiast. Today, the Media Prima Berhad Group managing director sometimes plays three times a week.
That alone might explain why pickleball has found such fertile ground in Malaysia.
“I’ve never been much of a sports person, but when I picked up the paddle, I found myself actually playing the game more than a few times a week,” Rafiq admitted to the New Straits Times.
It’s a simple endorsement, but a telling one. Pickleball is easy enough for newcomers to pick up yet challenging enough to reward those who want to master it, and its growth is increasingly catching the eye of sporting organisations, businesses, and media companies.
One expression of that momentum was the PPA Asia 1000 Leapmotor Kuala Lumpur Cup 2026, held at The Hood in Kuala Lumpur from 9 to 13 September. With Media Prima as official media partner, the tournament brought professional pickleball into the local spotlight.
For Rafiq, the appeal is the sport’s ability to bring people together. “What’s interesting about pickleball is that it’s a very inclusive sport,” he said, adding that anyone can start playing quite fast. In a country where food and sport already unite people, he believes pickleball offers one more common ground.
More Than a Broadcast
But Media Prima isn’t just lending its name to a tournament. With reach across television, radio, print, and digital, the group sees a chance to introduce pickleball to Malaysians who haven’t tried it yet.
“We do feel that we have a role to play to popularise the sport,” said Rafiq, who wants to make it “a lot closer” to Malaysians nationwide.
Indeed, pickleball has an edge over many spectator sports: audiences can readily try it for themselves. That, Rafiq noted, lets Media Prima build connections “beyond just broadcasts towards larger communities.”
Still Just Getting Started
For United Pickleball Association Asia (UPA Asia) managing director Kimberly Koh, that sense of community is central to pickleball’s staying power. Yet she believes Malaysia is only at the start of its pickleball journey. “There are still people who haven’t tried it before,” Koh said.
The real challenge is turning curiosity into lasting participation, and Koh points out that many who take up the sport keep playing and bring others along. For them, she said, “it goes beyond just a sport.”
But packed recreational courts alone won’t cut it. Koh says a sustainable ecosystem needs a stronger pathway from casual play to professional performance, which means:
- More high-performance coaches
- A clearer route towards competing professionally
- Proof that a career in the sport is possible
She also sees schools as a prime starting point. Introduce pickleball to children early, and Malaysia could raise a generation that grows up with the sport instead of discovering it after switching from badminton, tennis, or table tennis. Role models matter just as much.
That’s something Rafiq hopes to see, too. His goal isn’t merely for more people to watch pickleball, but for more young Malaysians to play and eventually compete internationally.
“Hopefully we can produce a world champion one day,” he said.
Where the Next Champion Might Begin
Of course, a world champion won’t emerge from a single tournament. The Kuala Lumpur event offers a platform and visibility, but the longer-term task is building the participation, coaching, and development structures to sustain the sport.
Then again, big journeys often start small. Getting started in pickleball doesn’t require a grand ambition, as Rafiq himself shows. Staying with it, however, could lead somewhere much bigger.
And if Malaysia’s next sporting champion does come from the pickleball court, it may all begin with something as simple as an invitation to play.
