Tze Yong can hold his head high despite loss to Anthony

Malaysia's NG Tze Yong in action.

PETALING JAYA: Men’s singles shuttler Ng Tze Yong can be proud of himself despite exiting the Singapore Open in the quarter-finals yesterday.

The youngster tried to go toe-to-toe with Indonesia’s world No. 6 Anthony Ginting but ended up on the receiving end of a 15-21, 12-21 loss in just 35 minutes.

Despite the defeat, world No. 47 Tze Yong can still reflect on a much improved tournament where he stunned two higher ranked Hong Kong players – Angus Ng Ka Long (No. 12) and Lee Cheuk Yiu (No. 15) en route to the quarter-finals.

In his match against Anthony, the 22-year-old also showed promise especially in the first game with his aggressive play and clever movements.

Tze Yong was leading 14-13 before the Indonesian levelled the scores and coupled with his greater experience pulled away for a win.

In the second game, Anthony upped the pace and romped home despite the Malaysian’s best efforts.

Singles coaching director Wong Choong Hann is confident that the experience gained in the tournament will prove invaluable to his charge.

“It’s a good exposure for Tze Yong playing against Anthony. I’m sure he will learn from the experience and become better,” said Choong Hann.

Anthony will face the winner of the clash between home favourite and reigning world champion Loh Kean Yew and China’s Li Shifeng.

The other semi-final clash is between China’s Zhao Junpeng, last month’s Indonesian Open runner-up, and Japan’s Kodai Naraoka.

Naraoka stunned India’s Thomas Cup winner H. S. Prannoy with a 12-21, 21-14, 21-18 victory in the last-eight.

Junpeng got the better of Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen 21-18, 23-21 in the other quarter-final.