Badminton is among the most popular sports in the country with a large following in all age groups.

The extraordinary popularity of the sport currently is in no small measure attributed to reigning world number player, Datuk Lee Chong Wei.

Just like other sports, players will swear by their sport equipment and in this case, the racket for their victory and performance.

While the badminton racket market is somewhat saturated with several leading brands, it was with pride that Wan Zahrin Wan Abdullah, a sports shop owner managed to carve a niche with his brand of Made in Malaysia rackets.

Sold under the brand name 'Wan Sport', Wan Zahrin who started his venture in 2008, plans to market his products to Mydin hypermarkets nationwide, kicking off with his home state Penang soon.

"I used to take racket orders for other brands and from there, I wanted to innovate a locally made brand to suit the taste of Malaysian players.

"We plan to be a racket supplier to local supermarkets and for a start, we will market Wan Sport rackets to Mydin next year," he told Bernama.

He said there are 35 models of Wan Sport rackets priced at between RM36 to RM253 each at his shop at Teluk Air Tawar here.

Wan Zahrin said the rackets were produced in a factory in Sungai Bakap near here and its regular production is 1,000 pieces at any one time.

"I hope one day Wan Sport will gain popularity among schoolchildren and become the rackets of national badminton players," he said.