NATIONAL men’s singles shuttler Ng Tze Yong (pic) has a good opportunity to capture his first World Tour title in the Indonesian Masters from Oct 18-23 in Malang.
World No. 39 Tze Yong is the top seed in the tournament and will be looking to go all the way and win despite its lower-tier status.
The 22-year-old’s name was originally entered for the Denmark Open which was scheduled to take place at the same time but was then switched to the Indonesian Masters after he was not upgraded from the reserve list.
“We switched Tze Yong to the Indonesian Masters as the chances players withdrawing from the Denmark Open looked slim,” said singles coaching director Wong Choong Hann.
Tze Yong’s last World Tour event was the Singapore Open in July where he reached the last eight.
Choong Hann chose to take a cautious approach on his charges chances of capturing the title in Indonesia.
“He is still on a learning curve. As long as he keeps improving, we believe he will be on the right track,” said Choong Hann.
Tze Yong’s best result in a World Tour event so far was reaching the semi-final of the Indian Open in January where he went down to home favourite Lakshya Sen 21-19, 16-21, 12-21.
In the Indonesian Masters, the other Malaysian men’s singles players who are set to join Tze Yong in the main draw are are independent duo Soong Joo Ven and Cheam June Wei and Badminton Association of Malaysia’s (BAM) Leong Jun Hao, Aidil Sholeh Ali Sadikin, Jacky Kok, Lim Chong King, Lee Shun Yang and Ong Ken Yon.
For now, the Johor-born Tze Yong is aiming to capture his first gold medal at the Malaysia Games (Sukma).
The badminton competition will start on Tuesday.
