KUALA LUMPUR – National men’s singles player Ng Tze Yong recently received an injection to relieve the back pain he suffered during the Badminton Asia Team Championships (BATC) in Shah Alam, Selangor, recently.
Akademi Badminton Malaysia coaching director Rexy Mainaky said the injection Tze Yong received at the National Sports Institute in Bukit Jalil was expected to help him return to action at two tournaments in Europe – the French Open from March 5-10 followed by the All England tournament from March 12-17.
“Based on the conversation with Tze Yong, if the injection is successful, he can train normally,” Rexy told reporters when met after the training session here today.
He said the 23-year-old player was currently only undergoing light training following the injury he suffered in his BATC quarter-final match against Singaporean Jason Teh last Friday.
The world’s 16th-ranked player lasted only about three minutes before being forced to withdraw from the biennial tournament when trailing 1-3 to Jason.
Tze Yong is scheduled to open his campaign at the French Open by meeting Taiwan’s Su Li-yang, while at the All England he will meet India’s Lakshya Sen in the opening round.
Rexy admitted that the player from Johor was clearly disappointed with his situation as he was hunting for a slot for the Paris Olympics, which will take place from July 26 to August 11.
Tze Yong is currently in 15th place in the Race to Paris rankings with 58,735 points.
According to the Paris 2024 qualification criteria, a total of 35 quota places, one host country place and two global places are allocated for individual events.
A country can only have a maximum of two players in a singles category if both are in the top 16 at the end of the Race to Paris qualifying period scheduled for April 28. – February 23, 2024