Junior Badminton Gland Slam Tournaments

For me in Malaysia, there are four Grand Slam Badminton Junior Tournaments in the year which I belief every budding junior badminton player should attempt to aim for in their calendar. Why these four Tournaments? Primarily, these four tournaments involves nation-wide grass roots participation. Secondly, these four major tournaments are supported, endorsed, funded and/or collaborated with either BAM or KPM with significant reward and recognition.

1. Junior Elite Tournament Finals : U12, U14, U16 – organised by BAM under Kementerian Belia dan Sukan (KBS)

Comprising of 15 State Badminton Associations, selected state players require BAM ID to participate in the preliminary JET 1 & JET2 (over two legs/locations) broken into 3 groups (of 5 states each). Top 6 singles and top 4 doubles in each group qualifies for the Finals. In the Finals, selected ABM players were also invited to participate. The quarter-finalist in singles and semi-finalist in doubles will be invited for Talent Identification Development Programme –TID (pre-cursor to join the Akademi Badminton Malaysia - ABM). Moreover, selected players from here were also invited to represent the country to play in Badminton Asia U17 and U15 Junior Championship in Chengdu, China. (Refer to The Chengdu Connection post)

2. Majlis Sukan Sekolah-Sekolah Malaysia – MSSM : U12, U15, U18 – organised by Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia (KPM)

The Malaysian School Sports Council is a body under the Malaysian Ministry of Education, organizes and coordinates annual sports competitions (for 24 types of sports, including badminton) for primary and secondary school students across Malaysia. It aims to develop physical and mental growth through sports as part of the extra-curricular under the school’s curriculum. KPM reported over 19,000 students in all public and private Schools registered under KPM participated in this programme in 2025. Its starts from inter-school competitions via MSS Daerah, inter-district competitions via MSS Negeri and finally inter-state via MSS Malaysia. Selected athletes with potential including the Champions in MSSM in the respective age categories will be invited to the Bukit Jalil Sports School which develops national athletes for high-level competitions (including the Olympics) by offering a balanced education with high-performance sports training with the objective to produce world-class athletes.

3. Allianz Junior Championship Finals : U13, U15 – sponsored by Allianz Corporate Social Responsibility Programme (CSR).

Commencing in 2022 after COVID, it quickly gain popularity due to the elaborate 10 qualifying round competitions held in all major cities in Peninsular, Sabah and Sarawak throughout the year, where participants participates for free. It is considered one of the largest junior tournaments in Malaysia, attracting thousands of players nationwide. The finalist in each qualifying round will qualify for the Grand Finals in Kuala Lumpur. Winners at the qualifying rounds receive cash prizes and a special grant to help cover future competition expenses, equipment, and coaching. The grand finals also offer substantial cash prizes for top performers.

4. Astro Kem Badminton : U12 – sponsored by Astro Corporate Social Responsibility Programme (Astro Kasih Foundation).

Launched in 2012, Astro Kem Badminton is a grassroots badminton development programme aims to discover, train and nurture young shuttlers to become the next champions. Children of ages 10 to 12 years old are eligible to participate for free in any one of the 4 badminton camps held in major cities. They are assessed and filtered by appointed professional coaches. The best players will be selected to take part in the Kuala Lumpur Selection Camp and will further filter to the top 10+ boy and 10+ girls. The selected players will then have the opportunity to go for the all-expense paid trip overseas where they will attend a week long special training tour programme with world renowned coaches.

Which Junior has the best record for the above three Grand Slam? This excludes Astro Kem Badminton because it only confined to U12 and do not have ranking by competition matches. Instead the organizers select a group of players for the finals.

Only Low Zi Yu (Johor) achieved the coveted 3 Grand Slam titles not once but twice in 2022 and 2023. Second place falls to Chong Wan Xin (Pahang) in 2003 who became champion for both JET Finals and MSSM, but fell short as runner-up in Allianz. Here are the top 5 with detailed records of their achievements :

1. Low Zi Yu (Johor)

2022 – Champion GSU12 JET Finals, Champion GSU12 MSSM, Champion GSU13 Allianz

2023 – Champion GSU14 JET Finals, Champion GSU15 MSSM, Champion GSU13 Allianz

2024 –Champion GSU15 MSSM, Champion GSU15 Allianz

2025 – Champion GSU16 JET Finals, Champion GSU15 MSSM

2. Chong Wan XIn (Pahang)

2022 – Runners-up GSU12 MSSM

2023 – Champion GSU12 JET Finals, Champion GSU12 MSSM, Runners-up GSU13 Allianz

2024 – Champion GSU14 JET Finals, Runners-up GSU13 Allianz

2025 – Champion GSU14 JET Finals

3. Razeeq Daniel (Selangor)

2022 – Champion BSU15 MSSM, Champion BSU15 Allianz

2023 – Runners-up BSU16 JET Finals, Champion BSU18 MSSM

2024 –Runners-up BSU18 MSSM

4. Dania Sofia (Johor)

2022 – Champion GSU15 MSSM

2023 – Champion GSU16 JET Finals, Champion GSU18 MSSM

5. Khashah (Kelantan)

2022 – Runners-up BSU12 JET Finals, Champion BSU12 MSSM, Runners-up BSU13 Allianz

2023 – Champion BSU14 JET Finals

2024 – Champion BSU14 JET Finals