Background: Reports of probiotic consumption on athletes’ performance are debatable due to their equivocal results. There is a need for more evidence on the effects of probiotic intake on psychological state and fitness level. Thus, this study determined the effects of daily probiotic consumption on competitive anxiety, perceived stress and mood among university badminton players, besides their fitness like aerobic capacity, strength, speed, leg power and agility. Methods: Thirty university badminton players aged from 19 to 22 years old were randomly divided equally into two groups, where the probiotic group (PG; n = 15) received a drink that contained Lactobacillus casei Shirota (3 × 10¹⁰ CFU) and placebo group (CG; n = 15) a placebo drink for six weeks. Anxiety, stress and mood levels were determined using the CSAI-2R, PSS and BRUMS questionnaires, respectively. Fitness levels were measured using by subjecting the players to 20-m shuttle runs (aerobic capacity), handgrips (muscular strength), vertical jumps (leg power), 40-m dash (speed) and T-test (agility). The Student’s t-test (p < 0.05) was used to determine the differences between PG and CG players. Results: After six weeks, the anxiety and stress levels of PG players significantly decreased by 16% (p < 0.001) and 20% (p < 0.001), respectively, but there were no significant changes detected in CG players. Supplementation of probiotics also improved aerobic capacity in PG players by 5.9% (p < 0.001) but did not influence the speed, strength, leg power and agility. Conclusions: Probiotics supplementation showed improved aerobic capacity and relieve anxiety and stress. However, further studies need to be carried out to determine the mechanisms through which probiotic intake produces these effects.

Athletes with high levels of anxiety may take wrong actions and cause athletes to not be able to perform well. Specifically, when pre-competition anxiety problems occur, this situation can affect the accuracy of the shots in tennis. Therefore, this study identifies the effect of pre-competition anxiety on tennis forehand (FH) and backhand (BH) accuracy shots among Malaysian varsity tennis players. This study uses quantitative cross-sectional survey research. This research used the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory (CSAI-2) questionnaire and the tennis forehand (FH) and backhand (BH) accuracy shot instrument to survey 60 respondents utilizing a convenient sampling technique. The descriptive data showed high cognitive and physical anxiety and low self-confidence 24 hours before the competition. Researchers used the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software, version 25, to perform inferential statistical analysis related to the Simple Linear Regression Test and concluded that pre-competition anxiety had a significant impact on tennis forehand (FH) and backhand (BH) accuracy shots, accounting for 10.1% of the variance. These findings imply that an excessive level of pre-competition anxiety has a significant negative impact on tennis forehand (FH) and backhand (BH) accuracy shots. The conclusion is that pre-competition anxiety poses a significant threat to the accuracy of tennis forehand (FH) and backhand (BH) accuracy shot performance. Solutions are desperately needed, such as meditation, self-talk, imagery, and sports massage intervention, which may control pre-competition anxiety and subsequently accurately perform tennis forehand (FH) and backhand (BH) shots.

This paper attempts to review the development of tennis in Malaysia and efforts made by its national governing body, Tennis Malaysia and to discuss on the development of tennis in Malaysia through the successful mode of tennis development strategy, and analyzes the successful mode of tennis development strategy in its planning and implementation. Tennis is competing with other sports in attracting the youth to take up the sport as one of their preferred leisure activities. Tennis Malaysia also engages in Junior Development activities to bring junior tennis players up the learning curve and be more competitive. Elite athlete development is the result of a combination of elite sport policies, athlete development pathways and interactions between various stakeholders that are involved in the delivery of athlete development pathways. These factors make elite athlete development a complex, multi-layered and multi-faceted field of study that necessitates specific research efforts that focus on how these factors contribute to elite athlete development in specific sports. Tennis Malaysia and its affiliates have endeavored to raise the standard of the sport in the past few years and have been relatively successful in achieving their objectives although there is much scope for improvement. The national body will continue to implement and improve its approach in developing tennis in Malaysia and will conduct some capacity building activities towards achieving excellence for tennis to continue to grow in all aspects.

The main purpose of this study is to obtain the psychological performance strategies used by Malaysian national rugby players during Asian 5 Nations Rugby Tournament 2015. All twenty-nine participants of this study are trained and experienced male players within the age of 19 to 38 years. Each player was given a set of Test of Performance Strategies (TOPS) questionnaire, which consisted of 64 items seeking the respondents to state the psychological strategy they use towards themselves during competition and practice during the match. The results showed significant difference only in emotional control strategy during practice condition. Due to specific demand in position, the backline-position players used emotional control as a strategy more often during practice, compared to the forward-position players. Meanwhile, in competition condition the performance strategies were equally used for both positions. The findings suggest that to win a game, both positions (forward and backline) have to use similar strategies, particularly in team sports. Future study should examine the strategies adopted in several investigations in order to derive comparisons among other professional teams.