Jalani Sidek

Jalani Sidek KMN AMN BSD (born 10 November 1963 in Banting, Selangor) is a former badminton player from Malaysia and coach.

Personal life

He is the third eldest of the five Sidek brothers. Jalani and his siblings gained exposure about badminton sport from their father, Haji Mohd Sidek. Under the guidance of his father, Jalani and the rest of his siblings were trained to be champions. Jalani Sidek is the alumnus of Victoria Institution (batch 1976-1980).

Jalani marries Malaysian film producer, Raja Azmi on 23 December 1984 and blessed with three children, Puteri Suraya (born 1985), Puteri Suhaida (born 1989) dan Megat Deli (born 1994). The couple filed a divorce and parted ways on 27 June 2012. He married second time with Zaleha Khalid in November 2013.

Career

His regular partner is his elder brother, Razif. They made the nation sit up and take notice when they won the All England Championships in 1982 after beating the Scottish pair, Billy Gilliland and Dan Travers.

The Sidek brothers won almost every title on offer during their playing career, including the World Grand Prix, World Cup, SEA Games, Commonwealth Games and Asian Championships. They introduced the infamous “S” Service, which caused a deceptively erratic shuttle movement, which confounded their opponents and officials alike. The service caused much uproar and was eventually banned by the International Badminton Federation (IBF).

He was also a member of the Malaysian squad that won the Thomas Cup for the first time in 25 years, in a 3-2 victory over Indonesia at the National Stadium in 1992. He created history by becoming the first Malaysian athlete to win an Olympic Games medal in Barcelona 1992. They won a bronze medal for Malaysia after reaching the semi-finals in the men's doubles category where they lost to the Korean pair, Park Joo-bong and Kim Moon-Soo.

During his career with Razif, they become one of the best four doubles pair in the world (Park Joo-bong/Kim Moon-soo, Rudy Gunawan/Eddy Hartono and Tian Bingyi/Li Yongbo) from the 1980s until the early 1990s.

Coaching

After he retired, he and his brothers established a badminton club to find talented new players, called Nusa Mahsuri, which he has been an advisor to since 1996. He was also responsible in grooming players like Ong Ewe Hock, Yong Hock Kin, Pang Chen and the Hashim brothers, Roslin and Hafiz to become world-class badminton players.

Achievements

• All England Champion 1982
• Canadian Open Champion 1983, 1984, 1991
• Malaysian Open Champion 1985, 1986, 1987
• World Grand Prix Champion 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991
• Japanese Open Champion 1986
• Taiwan Open Champion 1986, 1989, 1991
• All England Runner-up 1986, 1988
• Malaysian Open Runner-up 1984, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991
• Indonesian Open Champion 1988, 1990
• China Open Champion 1989
• Hong Kong Open Champion 1988, 1989
• Thomas Cup Runner-up 1988, 1990 (men team event)
• SEA Games Champion 1989, 1991 (men team event)
• Commonwealth Games Champion 1990
• World Cup Champion 1990, 1991
• US Open Champion 1991
• Asian Badminton Championships Champion 1992
• Thomas Cup Champion 1992 (men team event)
• Olympic Games 1992 (bronze medal)

Honours

•  Malaysia :