Top Malaysian professional sportspeople are earning a decent living, perhaps not as much as those in the US and Europe, but nationally still in the very top earning bracket. Of course, you have to be good AND successful.

On 7th February 2007, the National Sports Council (NSC) gave almost RM7 million in incentives to successful athletes who competed at the Asian and Fespic Games held last year. Yes, the NSC gives incentives even to special athletes.

In addition, more sports are introducing prize money on their international circuits. Worthy mentions:

Badminton

Koo Kien Keat & Tan Boon Heong got RM80,000 from the NSC. In addition, they got RM50,000 for winning the Malaysia Open last month and RM24,000 for getting as far as the semis at the Korean Open. Koo and Tan also has financial carrot dangled before them by the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM). It will give RM45,000 quarterly for a top-two world ranking.

Lee Chong Wei took home almost RM400,000 in prize money and incentives in 2006. That means more than RM30,000 per month on average. Amazing, and it would’ve been more if he did better than reaching the quarters of the World Championships and the semis at the Asian Games.

Squash

Nicol David got RM80,000 from the NSC for the Asian Games gold and winning the World Open two weeks earlier earned her RM78,000. Meaning, for 2 weeks’ worth, she earned RM158,000. If she didn’t work for the other 50 weeks of the year, she’d still be earning more than RM10,000 per month on average.

Bowling

Esther Cheah won 2 golds and 3 silvers at the Asian Games, received RM193,000 from the NSC.

Elsewhere, Alex Liew won RM70,000 for winning the men’s edition of the ABF Tour Tournament of Champions last month. Wendy Chai won the women’s edition, making her RM35,000 richer.

Golf

Airil Rizman Zahari won the Pakistan Open last month. He got RM166,000 for it.

Fespic Games

Lee Sheng Chow won gold in javelin and shot put and silver in the discus at the Fespic Games. He got RM190,000 from the NSC. Another special athlete, Faridul Masri, got RM145,000.

In fact the NSC paid even more, in total for athletes at the Fespic Games (RM3.9 million) than the Asian Games (RM2.2 million). One reason is the number of gold medals won. Malaysia won 8 golds at the Asian Games and 44 at the Fespic Games.

Sport does pay, doesn’t it?

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Tags: national sports council, asian games, fespic games, badminton, squash, bowling, golf