Rashid Sidek

Datuk Abdul Rashid bin Mohd Sidek (born 9 July 1968) is a Malaysian former badminton player and coach.

Personal life
He is the youngest of the famous five Sidek brothers. Rashid and his siblings gained exposure to badminton from their father, Mohd Sidek, a former player turned coach. Under the guidance of their father, Rashid and the rest of his siblings were trained to be champions from an early age. Additionally, Rashid was also an alumnus of Victoria Institution from the 1981–1986 batch.

Career
After completing his Sijil Penilaian Menengah (SPM) exam, he was injected into the Project 1988/90 squad with the aim of regaining the Thomas Cup. In the 1990 Thomas Cup, Rashid played well but Malaysia lost the finals to China 1–4.

He won the Malaysian Open title for three consecutive years in 1990, 1991, and 1992. As a result, he became known by many as “jaguh kampung” (literally, "local hero"). In the Thomas Cup final in 1992, he beat Ardy Wiranata to give Malaysia the first point in a dramatic 3-2 win over rivals Indonesia - the first championship won by Malaysia in 25 years, and the last to this day.

Over the next three years, Rashid's performance declined, but he bounced back in 1996, when he won the Asia Cup and German Open, then reached the finals of the All England before losing to Paul-Erik Hoyer Larsen from Denmark. His ranking rose to among the top three in the world. He won the bronze medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, beating the top seed, Joko Suprianto of Indonesia en route to the semi-finals, where he was beaten by Dong Jiong. However, he beat Indonesia's 1995 world champion, Heryanto Arbi, 5-15, 15-11, 15-6 in the third place playoff.

In 1997, Rashid reached the top of the world ranking. He later began to make way for new generation players like Wong Choong Hann, Yong Hock Kin and Roslin Hashim.

He retired in 2000, when aged only 32, to make way for younger and new generation players.

Coaching
Upon his retirement, Rashid was appointed as national coach by the Badminton Association of Malaysia from 2003 until 2015. He became instrumental for the success of the new generation badminton players such as Daren Liew and Chong Wei Feng. Apart from that, he was a coach for Nusa Mahsuri, the first professional badminton club in Malaysia from 1996 to 2002. Currently, he acts as the advisor for the club which he had set up with his brother, Jalani.

He also became national para-badminton coach, serving as Cheah Liek Hou's coach who won the first ever gold medal in para-badminton at 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo.

Olympic Games
Men's singles

World Cup
Men's singles

Asian Games
Men's singles

Asian Championships
Men's singles

Asian Cup
Men's singles

Southeast Asian Games
Men's singles

Commonwealth Games
Men's singles

Men's doubles

IBF World Grand Prix
The World Badminton Grand Prix sanctioned by International Badminton Federation (IBF) from 1983 to 2006.

Men's singles

Men's doubles

Fictionalized portrayals
Rashid was portrayed by Farid Kamil, a biopic film by Adrian Teh entitle Gold is a journey story Paralympic badminton athlete Lien Hou and Rashid as coach train him for Olympic Tokyo 2020.

Honours of Malaysia

 * 🇲🇾 Malaysia :
 * MY Panglima Setia Diraja - Order of the Royal Household - PSD.svg Herald of the Order of Loyalty to the Royal Family of Malaysia (BSD) (1989)
 * MY Darjah Yang Mulia Pangkuan Negara (Defender of the Realm) - SMN.svg Medal of the Order of the Defender of the Realm (PPN) (1991)
 * Kesatria Mangku Negara.png Officer of the Order of the Defender of the Realm (KMN) (1993)
 * MY-FED Darjah Mahkota Wilayah - Knight Commander - PMW.svg Commander of the Order of the Territorial Crown (PMW) – Datuk (2021)