SHAH ALAM – National badminton coaching director Rexy Mainaky has instructed his coaching team to place extra emphasis on analysing Ng Tze Yong’s physical condition after his performance against Brunei in the opening group match at the 2024 Badminton Asia Team Championships (BATC), here yesterday.
The 24-year-old, who is yet to fully recover from a torn back muscle sustained at the opening round of the Malaysia Open last month, was the first to take to the court against Brunei’s Kah Kit Kan.
The 15th-ranked Tze Yong’s cautious play gave Malaysia a solid start as he easily cruised past the world number 350 with a score of 21-7, 21-11 in 23 minutes.
His winning momentum was continued by the national men’s team as they went on to win the remaining four games, giving Malaysia a 5-0 win against Brunei.
Rexy said that Tze Yong was fielded in yesterday’s match so that the coaching team could test his current physical condition.
“Before fielding Tze Yong today, I discussed it with the coaches, and they told me that they wanted to test him. Hence, we continued to include him in the lineup to check whether his condition and fitness were okay.
“He gave his best in the match, and we will sit down and have another discussion with the coaches to decide on the next step tomorrow (today).
“Not only Tze Yong, but we must continue to analyse and prepare all our singles players until Sunday (final round).
“If we push Tze Yong too much, we are worried that there will be a higher risk of him getting injured again, and he has many upcoming important tournaments to collect his Olympic points,” said Rexy when met after the match at the Setia City Convention Centre.
Meanwhile, Tze Yong said that he consented to play against Brunei upon being approached by the coaching team, feeling confident in his ability to compete.
Tze Yong, who was part of the gold medal team (men’s team) in the previous edition, also said that this year’s tournament would be a perfect platform for him to boost his Olympic points.
“The injury which happened to me was a big setback in my career, and at one point, I was worried that it would affect my Paris Olympic dreams.
“I would say that I have only recovered about 60-70%, and I knew to what extent I can play, and that’s why I agreed to play this opening match.
“But I still have a chance as I’m still in the top 16 (Race to Paris ranking), and I have a few tournaments to compete for me to get back on track,” added Tze Yong.
Malaysia currently tops Group B, which consists of Chinese Taipei, Kazakhstan, and Brunei.
The Malaysian men’s team will take on Kazakhstan in their second group-stage match today.
The top four teams will earn automatic qualification to the Thomas Cup finals in China, which will run from April 28 to May 5. – February 14, 2024