Razif Sidek

He is the second eldest of the famous five Sidek brothers. Razif and his siblings gained exposure about badminton sport from their father, Haji Mohd Sidek. Under the guidance of his father, Razif and the rest of his siblings were trained to be champions. Razif Sidek is the alumnus of Victoria Institution (batch 1975-1979).[2]

He married former model, Khalidah Khalid and blessed with five children.[3] His youngest children, Mohd Fazriq are also active in badminton.[4] He became a grandfather in December 2018.[5]

His regular partner is his younger brother, Jalani. Razif won a gold medal for Malaysia at the 1982 Commonwealth Games doubles with Ong Beng Teong.[6] 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).[7]

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.[8] He created history by becoming the first Malaysian athlete to win an Olympic Games medal in Barcelona 1992.[9] 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.[10]

During his career with Jalani, 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.

After he retired, he served as Malaysian national head coach from 1994 until 1996.[11] Razif guided Cheah Soon Kit-Yap Kim Hock to Malaysia’s first-ever Olympic silver medal at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

•  Malaysia :
  • Member of the Order of the Defender of the Realm (A.M.N.) (1983)[12]
  • Herald of the Order of Loyalty to the Royal Family of Malaysia (B.S.D.) (1988)[13]
  • Officer of the Order of the Defender of the Realm (K.M.N.) (1992)[14]

• Misbun Sidek
• Jalani Sidek
• Rahman Sidek
• Rashid Sidek

• Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Ajib Sidek Mohamed (Razif Haji "Ajib" Sidek Mohamed)". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020.