Tze Yong has to do more to catch up with the rest

PETALING JAYA: There’s no time to waste for Ng Tze Yong as he seeks to close the gap with the world’s best shuttlers.

Tze Yong cannot afford to rest on his laurels as players younger than the 23-year-old shone in the just concluded World Championships in Copenhagen.

Thai sensation Kunlavut Vitidsarn captured a historic gold for his country after outlasting fellow 22-year-old Kodai Naraoka of Japan 19-21, 21-18, 21-7 in an energy sapping final at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen on Sunday.

The final showed that both the youngsters currently ranked No. 3 and No. 4 in the world respectively were ahead of Tze Yong in their development.

The world No. 22 had seen his campaign come to an end in the second round after losing 22-24, 16-21 to homester and eventual bronze medallist Anders Antonsen.

Tze Yong had also bowed out in the second round in his debut world meet last year in Tokyo to Thailand’s Sitthikom Thammasin.

The former has progressed well over the last two years but still lacks consistency throughout a tournament.

Tze Yong has toppled big names like Denmark’s world No. 1 and two-time world champion Viktor Axelsen, Indonesia’s 2018 Asian Games gold medallist Jonatan Christie, Singapore’s world No. 7 Loh Kean Yew and Taiwan’s world No. 10 Chou Tien-chen but has not managed to reach the semi-finals in any of his individual tournaments this year.

He has lost in the last eight in six World Tour events this year and needs to find a way to break this barrier.

National men’s singles coach Hendrawan believes that Tze Yong needs more time to reach the top but acknowledged that his charge does not have that luxury as the battle for spots in the 2024 Paris Olympics hots up.

“Tze Yong needs more time to work on his weaknesses in training but he also needs to compete in many tournaments to improve his ranking to qualify for the Olympics,” Hendrawan had said.

“We have to try our best to balance both (training and tournaments).”

Tze Yong’s next assignment will be the China Open from Sept 5-10 in Changzhou where he has a tough opening match against India’s World Championships bronze medallist and world No. 9 H.S. Prannoy.

Tze Yong will also compete in the Hong Kong Open (Sept 12-17) and will make his debut in the Asian Games (Sept 23-Oct 8) in Hangzhou.