PETALING JAYA: Leong Jun Hao, feeling liberated after winning his first world tour title at the Indonesia Masters in Malang last month, is looking forward to challenging Ng Tze Yong to become the Badminton Association of Malaysia’s (BAM) top men’s singles player.
Jun Hao, 23, was touted as a future star when he won the 2017 Asian Junior title in Kuala Lumpur but injuries and poor form saw him sliding down the pecking order.
The 22-year-old Tze Yong, who is Jun Hao’s junior in the national squad, has had a meteoric rise this year where he secured the singles silver and was part of the gold-medal winning mixed team at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in August.
All that changed when Jun Hao won in Malang, a Super 100 event under the Badminton World Federation’s (BWF) world tour, where he beat independent compatriot Cheam June Wei in the final.
BAM president Tan Sri Norza Zakaria had instructed the national coaches to identify players who will be battling for honours on the international stage, including the 2024 Paris Olympics, within the association by the end of this year.
“It was a relief to win the Indonesia Masters. I could not win a title and it was bogging me down and now I feel free and much more relaxed,” said Jun Hao.
“The last few years were very frustrating. Tze Yong is actually my junior and he was doing well and so were the others.
“Now, I have the self belief that I can do better but I need to keep working hard be consistent with my results.
“I want to prove that I’m still one of the best in BAM and hope I can narrow the gap between me and Tze Yong.”
Jun Hao will be heading for the Bahrain International Challenge (Nov 29-Dec 4) to improve on his world ranking which is currently at No. 72.
Tze Yong will also play in Manama if he fails to do well in the Australia Open next week in order to break into the top 32 to qualify for the Super 1000 tournaments like the Malaysian Open.
