Hall of Fame

Dato’ James Selvaraj

Category: Official
Sport: Badminton
Year Inducted: 2009

Dato’ James Selvaraj was born and bred at the Selangor Badminton Association. He is the son of the late Muthiah Joseph, the caretaker of the Selangor Badminton Association for more than 45 years.

Dato’ James Selvaraj who started playing badminton at a tender age of four years old, started learning the skills and advice from his late father. He was a born talent. Growing up at the Selangor Badminton Association, he watched all the international players competing there and he had always had the vision of becoming a champion himself.

He started off by winning the Age Group Schools Tournaments and went on to win many state level tournaments. In 1968 he won the Novices, Junior and Senior Tournament in the same year. From there he went on to represent Selangor state in the Inter-state Foong Seong Cup Tournament, followed by the Khir Johari Trophy. He represented Selangor from 1968 to 1982. During this time he represented the country in various International Tournaments including 3 Thomas Cup Series 1975/76, 1978/79, 1981/82.

In the 1975/76 Thomas Cup series he was a member of the team who were runner-up to Indonesia. Some of his achievements are:-

• National Badminton Champion from 1974 – 1976.
• World Invitation Badminton Tournament 1975 – semi-finalist.
• Sea Games - Bronze medallist 1977.
• Commonwealth Games - Bronze medallist 1978.
• National Badminton Coach – 1982 – 1985.

In 1975 he was awarded the Selangor State Sportsman of the year. For winning the Sportsman Award he was awarded the PJK title by the late Sultan of Selangor in 1975. He was also awarded two more titles the ANS from Negri Sembilan and the AMK from Kedah.

He started work with Bata (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd from 1980 and is currently the Senior Marketing Manager. Through his involvement in sports he got Bata (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd to sponsor many events in the country. Bata’s contribution was the sponsorship of many running events, badminton, hockey, rugby and other social community activities. Bata also was a strong supporter of the Seremban Half Marathon, the Power Negri Sembilan Royal Seven’s Rugby Tournament and sponsor of the Negri Sembilan Wanderers Rugby Team. He was also instrumental in getting Bata and Power as the official footwear of Olympic Council of Malaysia. For all his contributions to sports, sponsorship and social activities he was awarded the Datukship title from His Royal Highness the Yang DiPertuan Besar of Negri Sembilan in 2005.

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