Ng Tze Yong in action during the World Championships in Tokyo - Pix by Badminton Photo
PETALING JAYA: Shuttler Ng Tze Yong's campaign is over in the World Championships but he has no regrets.
Debutant Tze Yong went down fighting 9-21, 21-10, 19-21 to Sitthikom Thammasin of Thailand in the men's singles second round at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium in Tokyo on Tuesday (Aug 23).
The 22-year-old Tze Yong, riding high after winning a gold and silver at the recent Birmingham Commonwealth Games, recovered from a first game setback to take the second.
He performed better in the decider and tried to catch up but the 27-year-old and 2019 Macau Open champion Sitthikom was in his element to advance to the third round.
A day earlier, Tze Yong had ousted Malaysian Masters champion Chico Aura of Indonesia.
"I've given my best in my first world meet, and I've no regrets," said Tze Yong.
"I've lost to an experienced player, the Thai had a better control of the game than me. I will continue to work on my stamina and power," he said.
In the women's singles, Soniia Cheah marked her return to the international stage after a year with a first-round victory against Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia.
The independent shuttler took 41 minutes to beat Putri 21-19, 21-18. She will play fourth seed Chen Yufei of China next.
"It feels great to be back on court, but greater to win," said Soniia.
It was over for S. Kisona though after she went down 10-21, 17-21 to Vu Thi Trang of Vietnam.
There were also mixed fortunes for Malaysia in the women's doubles as Anna Cheong-Teoh Mei Xing cleared the opening round but Valeree Siow-Low Yeen Yuan failed to follow suit.
Anna-Mei Xing defeated Germany's Stine Kuespert-Emma Moszczynski 21-13, 21-15 to set up a meeting against South Koreans Jeong Na-eun-Kim Hye-jeong in the second round.
Debutants Valeree-Yeen Yuan's inexperienced showed as they went down 11-21, 13-21 to India's Treesa Jolly-Gayatri Gopichand.
The Indians will face Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah next. In the last meeting between the two pairs, the Malaysians won in the semi-finals of the individual event at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games before eventually winning the gold.
