A Malaysian diabolo player, Ong Hock Eng, won two medals at the inaugural World Diabolo Contest held in Taipei, Taiwan, from November 7 to November 9, 2025.
Ong secured a silver in the Three Diabolo Bearing category and a bronze in the Two Diabolo Bearing category, placing him among only five contestants who won two medals at the event.
He was also the only Malaysian to achieve this.
Began learning diabolo at nine
Ong, who is based in Malaysia, began learning diabolo at the age of nine through his primary school’s co curricular activities. His interest first started at eight when he saw his older brother playing the sport.
He competed from his very first year of learning and continued training under his primary school coach until graduation.
After that, most of his development was self taught.
Speaking to WeirdKaya, he said he trained by watching online videos, returning to his primary school for alumni sessions, and occasionally learning from seniors in his secondary school’s diabolo club.
Trained mostly on his own
Ong said he often felt disadvantaged as many local competitors trained under highly skilled coaches, especially those capable of teaching advanced techniques such as three or four diabolos.
Despite this, he continued training independently, saying that his passion for the sport and inspiration from international players kept him motivated.
He has participated in numerous local competitions and performed internationally, including a group performance in Taiwan in 2018 and an individual performance in India in 2019.
First ever world level competition
This year marked the first official World Diabolo Contest, as previous tournaments did not carry world championship status.
Ong decided to take part as it was the debut edition and could replace older international competition formats.
This was his third time competing in Taiwan, following appearances in 2023 and July 2025.
Ong registered for four categories, the most among Malaysian participants. He passed all video preliminaries and advanced directly to the finals in three categories due to lower participant numbers.
For one category, he qualified through on site semi finals, where only eight out of seventeen contestants were selected.
He was the only Malaysian competing in these four specific categories.
Balanced full time work with competition training
Since 2023, Ong has been working full time in a field unrelated to diabolo.
He trained mainly after work on weekday nights and during weekends, depending on workload and weather. He usually practiced alone except for weekly group sessions.
Preparing for competitions also required him to choreograph routines to music, adding to the workload.
Ong said he did not expect to win medals, especially given the level of international competition and his self taught background. He added that standing on the world stage with two medals was a significant personal milestone.
