Hendrawan keeps Tze Yong’s indomitable spirit up

PETALING JAYA: Accept the defeat, move on and use it as a motivation to work harder.

This was the advice given by national men’s singles badminton coach Hendrawan to Ng Tze Yong after the latter crashed out in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.

World No. 21 Tze Yong suffered a narrow 21-17, 24-26, 19-21 defeat to his former national teammate Lee Zii Jia in a nail-biting 83-minute clash at Quaycentre in Sydney on Friday.

Tze Yong got off to a strong start by taking the first game, but Zii Jia went toe-to-toe with his compatriot before taking the second game to force the decider.

In the deciding game, Tze Yong was trailing 4-11 but fought back to level the score to 13-13 and even led 18-15 before he collapsed in the crucial stages.

It was his sixth exit in the last eight in World Tour events so far this year. He was a semi-finallist at last year’s Australian meet.

Tze Yong may have lost due to his inexperience, but he can still hold his head high because his performance proved he was not far behind Zii Jia.

Hendrawan was pleased to see the indomitable spirit in Tze Yong.

“Tze Yong, accept your defeat gracefully and remember this defeat as a bitter pill,” posted Hendrawan on social media.

“Study and work hard again. Believe that one day, the smile will come.

“I believe we have done our best but it was not enough.”

Meanwhile, Hendrawan congratulated Zii Jia, who seems to have found his mojo after suffering from a confidence crisis.

It was a breakthrough for Zii Jia as he has suffered six straight early-round exits in the Asian Championships, Malaysian Masters, Singapore, Indonesian, Korean and Japan Opens.

“To Zii Jia, congrats,” said Hendrawan.

“Not only because you won, but you have defeated the biggest enemy that is yourself.”