Malaysian Men’s Singles Badminton Star
Leong Jun Hao
Malaysia
Player Event: Men’s singles
Born 13 July 1999
Playing Style: Right-handed all-court rallying player, famous for his relentless retrieving, explosive speed and never-say-die fighting spirit
Coaches: Kenneth Jonassen and Tey Seu Bock
Understanding Leong Jun Hao (Malaysian Badminton Star)
Leong Jun Hao is a Malaysian men’s singles badminton player from Setapak, Kuala Lumpur, and he is currently Malaysia’s No. 1 in men’s singles. The right-hander is a former Asian junior champion and World Junior silver medallist who has won two BWF World Tour titles — the 2022 Indonesia Masters and the 2023 Malaysia Super 100 — and reached the final of the 2024 Japan Masters, a Super 500 tournament. In the Week 43 BWF world rankings of 20 October 2026, Leong stands at No. 31 with 43,029 points, having reached a career-high of world No. 20 in September 2025.
Early Life in Kuala Lumpur and Junior Career
Leong Jun Hao was born on 13 July 1999 in Setapak, Kuala Lumpur, to Anthony Leong and Celine Low. He started playing badminton for fun outside his house, and by the age of nine he was training seriously under the tutelage of his father, who recognised his talent and discipline. At 13 he earned a place at the Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS), the famous Kuala Lumpur school that feeds the Malaysian national academy, and the long journey to the top of Malaysian badminton began.
Bukit Jalil Sports School
Leong’s junior breakthrough came in 2017, a year Malaysian fans still talk about. In July he won the boys’ singles gold medal at the Asian Junior Championships in Jakarta, defeating China’s Bai Yupeng 21-6, 20-22, 21-17 in the final. Three months later in Yogyakarta he reached the World Junior Championships final, taking the first game off top seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand before falling 21-17, 15-21, 9-21 to take the silver medal. With Malaysia he also won mixed team silver medals at the 2016 and 2017 World Junior Championships.
Asian Junior Champion
The step into senior badminton came quickly. In November 2017, Leong reached his first senior final at the Malaysia International Challenge, losing to his compatriot Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin. In January 2018, still only 18 and playing as a qualifier, he stormed into the final of the Thailand Masters, a Super 300 event, before losing to Indonesia’s second seed Tommy Sugiarto. In April 2018 he won his first senior title at the Finnish Open, beating compatriot Cheam June Wei 12-21, 21-17, 22-20 in the final.
World Junior Silver Medallist
Then came the setback that could have ended everything. At the end of 2018, Leong injured his hip twice in quick succession, and his world ranking collapsed from No. 40 to No. 120. Months of rehabilitation followed while players he had beaten as a junior moved past him into the world top 30. His one final in that dark period, at the Bangladesh International in December 2019, ended in defeat to top seed Lakshya Sen of India, 20-22, 18-21.
Career Milestone #1
Hip Injury Heartbreak and the Long Climb Back
The climb back was slow and unglamorous: qualifying rounds, International Challenge events, and trust in the process at Bukit Jalil. There was encouragement in February 2020, when Leong was part of the Malaysian men’s team that won silver at the Asian Team Championships in Manila, but the week-to-week work of rebuilding a ranking — and a hip — took years, not months.
Young players watching Leong in those years learned the hardest lesson in sport: a ranking is not a life sentence. The player who falls to No. 120 through injury is the same player who was Asian junior champion — what changes is only the willingness to rebuild patiently, one tournament at a time.
Career Milestone #2
First World Tour Titles in Malang and Kuala Lumpur
The reward arrived in 2022. In February, Leong was part of the Malaysian men’s team that won gold at the Badminton Asia Team Championships in Selangor, ending Indonesia’s dominance of the event. Then in October he clinched his first BWF World Tour title at the Indonesia Masters Super 100 in Malang, beating Cheam June Wei 9-21, 22-20, 21-19 in an all-Malaysian final — and he dedicated the trophy to his late grandfather.
In 2023 the titles kept coming at home. Leong made his SEA Games debut in Cambodia in May, winning silver with the team and a bronze medal in the singles, where he lost the semi-final to Indonesia’s Christian Adinata. In July he was crowned Malaysian national champion, and in November he won the KL Masters — the Malaysia Super 100 — defeating top seed Lee Chia-hao of Chinese Taipei 22-20, 21-13 in the final in front of his home crowd.
Two World Tour titles, a national crown and two SEA Games medals: by the end of 2023, Leong had quietly become the most reliable Malaysian men’s singles player behind Lee Zii Jia. The boy from Setapak who trained outside his house was now winning professional titles in the same city.
Career Milestone #3
Kumamoto Masters Heroics and Malaysia’s No. 1
Leong’s finest week came in November 2024 at the Japan Masters in Kumamoto, a Super 500 tournament. Every one of his four matches on the way to the final went to three games: he beat India’s Lakshya Sen, then home favourite Kodai Naraoka in the quarter-finals 21-17, 9-21, 21-16, then produced a sensational comeback to beat Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie 10-21, 21-18, 22-20 in the semi-final. Only China’s Li Shi Feng, in the final, could stop him, 10-21, 13-21 — and even Li admitted Leong’s run had emptied his tank.
At 173 centimetres, Leong is one of the shorter players in the world top group, and nobody out-works him. Coached by Kenneth Jonassen and Tey Seu Bock at the national academy in Bukit Jalil, he has built his game on a low centre of gravity, explosive first steps and a defensive wall that taller, harder-hitting opponents struggle to break down.
In June 2025, Leong overtook Lee Zii Jia in the world rankings to become Malaysia’s No. 1 men’s singles player for the first time — a changing of the guard years in the making. On 23 September 2025 he reached a career-high world No. 20. He closed the year at the SEA Games in Thailand, repeating his 2023 results exactly: silver with the team and bronze in the singles, losing the semi-final to Indonesia’s Zaki Ubaidillah.
Career Milestone #4
World No. 31 Among Badminton’s Elite
In October 2026, Leong Jun Hao is ranked world No. 31 with 43,029 points. His 2026 season has been one of near misses against the very best: at the World Championships in New Delhi he lost in the round of 32 to Li Shi Feng, he beat former world No. 6 Prannoy at the China Open before a three-game loss to Weng Hong Yang, and at the Japan Open he beat Chi Yu Jen before losing a three-game battle to Christo Popov.
Staying inside the world’s top group also means serving the team. Leong helped Malaysia take the bronze medal at the 2024 Thomas Cup in Chengdu — the world men’s team championship — and his medal shelf holds an Asia Team Championships gold from 2022 plus silvers from 2020 and 2024. Few Malaysian players of his generation have been as dependable in the team shirt.
Playing Style
The Relentless Retrieving Style
Leong’s style is the rallying game played at maximum intensity. A right-hander, he defends from a low, wide stance, scrambles to retrieve smashes that look like certain winners, and turns defence into attack with sharp counter-drives and cross-court net shots. His speed across the front court is his signature: again and again, opponents think the rally is won, and the shuttle comes back once more.
Coaches call his real weapon his refusal to lose. Leong saves match points, wins deciding games and drags stronger-on-paper opponents into the deep water of a third game, where his fitness and his heart take over. The Kumamoto run — four straight three-game wins in five days — is the perfect example of a player whose stamina is a tactical weapon.
Young players who study Leong learn that you do not need to be the tallest or the most powerful player in the hall. Speed, defence, rally tolerance and an honest refusal to give up on any shuttle can carry a 173-centimetre player from Setapak into the world top 20.
Mental Strength
Fighting Spirit and the Comeback Habit
Leong’s career carries its hardest lesson in the injury years. Two hip injuries at the end of 2018 took him from world No. 40 to No. 120 and cost him the momentum of his junior success. At 19, with his contemporaries rising, he could have accepted that his moment had passed.
Instead, the comeback became the story: the Bangladesh final in 2019, team silver in 2020, team gold and a first World Tour title in 2022, a Super 500 final in 2024, and Malaysia’s No. 1 ranking in 2025. Six years of climbing, step by step, with no shortcuts — that is why Malaysian coaches hold Leong up as the example of what patience actually looks like.
For our students, the practical lessons from Leong are clear: protect your body and take rehabilitation seriously, keep training through the seasons when results do not come, and measure yourself against your own last performance — not against the player ranked above you.
Learning Reference
ST Badminton Academy Connection
ST Badminton Academy has no official partnership or endorsement arrangement with Leong Jun Hao or the Badminton Association of Malaysia. This page is an educational profile created so Malaysian juniors and parents can learn from his career, his playing style and his remarkable comeback.
Our students study Leong’s matches to learn defensive movement and rally construction: how he stays low and balanced, how he turns defence into counter-attack, and how a player from Kuala Lumpur — from a sports school many of our own students know — built a complete game good enough for the world top 20.
We encourage our players to watch Leong the way we encourage them to train: with patience and with heart. Copy his retrieving, his fitness and his refusal to accept defeat after injury, and your own game will grow the same way his did — one honest rally, one honest week of training, at a time.
FAQs: Leong Jun Hao Malaysian Badminton Player
Here are the questions Malaysian parents and junior players ask most often about Leong Jun Hao, answered with the key facts from his career.
Who is Leong Jun Hao and which country does he represent in badminton?
Leong Jun Hao is a Malaysian men’s singles badminton player from Setapak, Kuala Lumpur. He represents Malaysia in BWF World Tour events and team competitions such as the Thomas Cup and the Asian Team Championships, is currently Malaysia’s No. 1 men’s singles player, and trains at the national academy in Bukit Jalil under coaches Kenneth Jonassen and Tey Seu Bock.
What are Leong Jun Hao’s biggest badminton achievements?
His biggest achievements are the 2017 Asian Junior Championships gold medal and World Junior Championships silver medal, two BWF World Tour titles — the 2022 Indonesia Masters and the 2023 Malaysia Super 100 — a Super 500 final at the 2024 Japan Masters, an Asia Team Championships gold medal in 2022, a Thomas Cup bronze in 2024, two SEA Games singles bronze medals, and a career-high world ranking of No. 20.
What is Leong Jun Hao’s playing style?
Leong plays a right-handed all-court rallying style built on speed, defence and retrieving. He stays low and balanced, returns smashes that look like winners, extends rallies until his opponent tires, and counters with sharp drives and cross-court net shots. His fitness and fighting spirit in deciding games are his trademarks.
How has Leong Jun Hao performed in team events for Malaysia?
Leong is one of Malaysia’s most reliable team players. He won gold at the 2022 Badminton Asia Team Championships in Selangor, silver medals at the same event in 2020 and 2024, a bronze medal at the 2024 Thomas Cup in Chengdu, and silver medals with the team at the 2023 and 2025 SEA Games.
How can my child learn from Leong Jun Hao’s training approach?
Children can learn from Leong’s pathway: games outside the house, serious training under his father, then the Bukit Jalil Sports School at 13 and the national academy. At ST Badminton Academy we use the same structure — footwork efficiency, defensive technique and rally-building drills first — so juniors build the complete base before adding attacking weapons.
Did Leong Jun Hao win any junior titles?
Yes. Leong won the boys’ singles gold medal at the 2017 Asian Junior Championships in Jakarta, beating Bai Yupeng in the final, and the silver medal at the 2017 World Junior Championships in Yogyakarta, where he lost the final to Kunlavut Vitidsarn. He also won World Junior mixed team silver medals in 2016 and 2017.
How many BWF World Tour titles has Leong Jun Hao won?
Leong has won two BWF World Tour titles: the Indonesia Masters Super 100 in 2022, where he beat Cheam June Wei in the final, and the Malaysia Super 100 (KL Masters) in 2023, where he beat Lee Chia-hao. He has also been runner-up twice — at the 2018 Thailand Masters and the 2024 Japan Masters.
What playing style should young players learn from Leong Jun Hao?
Young players should learn Leong’s rally-building style: balanced defensive footwork, low retrieving stance, precise clears, tight net play and calm shot selection in long matches. Above all, copy his attitude — he never concedes a rally, and he rebuilt his whole career after injury rather than giving up.
Does ST Badminton Academy have any connection with Leong Jun Hao?
No. ST Badminton Academy has no official connection, partnership or endorsement with Leong Jun Hao. This profile is published for education only, so our students and parents in Malaysia can study his career achievements, playing style and comeback story.
Leong Jun Hao Career Highlights
Career Statistics and Rankings
Leong Jun Hao's career is a masterclass in refusing to go away. From games outside his house in Setapak to the Bukit Jalil Sports School, an Asian junior title, a fall from world No. 40 to No. 120 through injury, and then the long climb back to Malaysia's No. 1 and a career-high of world No. 20 — every step was earned the slow way.
| Development Area | Common Misconception | What Leong Jun Hao's Career Shows REALITY |
|---|---|---|
| Junior Foundation | Talent alone decides who becomes a champion. | Leong started playing outside his house in Setapak and was training seriously under his father by the age of nine, then joined the Bukit Jalil Sports School at 13 — a structured base came first, before any titles. |
| Playing Style Priority | Kids should copy the flashiest attacking shots. | Leong built a complete rallying game first; his counter-attacking winners are the finishing touch on elite speed, defence and retrieving, not the whole game. |
| Fitness Importance | Juniors can out-train everyone without rest. | Two hip injuries at the end of 2018 dropped Leong from world No. 40 to No. 120, yet he rebuilt step by step through the smaller events instead of walking away from the sport. |
| Mental Approach | Top players never get nervous or upset. | Leong is famously expressive and emotional on court, but he channels that fire into longer rallies and harder fighting rather than into frustration. |
| Attacking Training | Smashing harder is always the answer. | At the 2024 Japan Masters, every one of Leong's four matches on the way to the final went to three games — against Lakshya Sen, Kodai Naraoka and Jonatan Christie among them — because his fitness held when others faded. |
| National Milestones | Only world titles matter. | Leong's Asia Team Championships gold with Malaysia in 2022 and his Thomas Cup bronze in 2024 made him a national hero at home. Team success matters as much as individual titles. |
| Career Timeline | Champions peak once and fade fast. | From Asian junior champion in 2017 to Malaysia's No. 1 and a career-high world No. 20 in 2025, Leong proves that steady development over many years beats a short early peak. |
Study Leong Jun Hao's Work Ethic and Professional Approach
For Malaysian juniors, his message is simple and powerful: your starting point does not decide your ceiling. Build your basics, protect your body, keep fighting for every shuttle — the way Leong Jun Hao has done from Setapak to the top of Malaysian badminton.
