KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 — The Malaysian Olympic contingent may not represent the country in most of the top sports in the Paris Games, but Malaysians are still nevertheless excited to follow the quadrennial event that starts this weekend.

A survey by Ipsos, a market research company, showed Malaysia as among nations most keen on the Paris Games, scoring much higher than the average of all countries surveyed.

“Overall, the 2024 Paris Games has a positive and unifying effect among Malaysians,” said Arun Menon, Ipsos Malaysia managing directo and Atticus Poon, the research manager for Public Affairs Ipsos in an accompanying statement.

“Excitement among the people is high, and it should not be stopped by the wars and conflicts taking place.”

About two out of three Malaysians told the polls that they look forward to watching the world’s top sporting event that will take place from July 26th to August 11th, making it 64 percent of Malaysian respondents saying they look forward to the tournament.

But the score is still a little lower than Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia, which scored 65 per cent, 77 per cent and 75 per cent respectively.

One of the reasons for the keen interest is likely because Malaysians have the tendency to rally behind sports. Eight out of ten Malaysian respondents in the survey said they view the Paris Games as a unifying factor, with positive effects for the country and the world.

The sport that they look forward to is naturally badminton. Over half of Malaysian respondents said they anticipate watching badminton the most, followed by football, athletics, aquatics and cycling.

“Badminton holds a special place in the hearts of Malaysians. About six out of 10 Malaysians are interested in badminton, far surpassing the 33-country average and many other countries,” the duo said.

Malaysia is home to some of the world’s best badminton players, including former silver medallist Datuk Lim Chong Wei. The sport is still very much the one that Malaysians feel is most likely to give the country its first ever Olympic gold medal.

The Paris Games will be the first Olympics in the post Covid-19 pandemic era.

The survey had interviewed over 500 adults aged above 18 in Malaysia, as part of a survey of 24,531 online adults under age 75 across 33 countries between May 24 and June 7, 2024.

https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2024/07/23/ipsos-malaysians-among-top-nations-looking-forward-to-paris-olympics-badminton-tops-list-of-interest/144710