PETALING JAYA: National men’s singles shuttler Ng Tze Yong is determined to work his butt off to achieve his dream of playing in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
And with the race to qualify for the Olympics set to begin in May, Tze Yong knows he has no more time to waste.
Tze Yong, who reached a career-high No. 25 in the latest world rankings, knows that he needs to take his game to a higher level to be able to match the world class players.
And he wants to reach at least the quarter-final stage in every tournament he takes part in.
“Last year, I felt that my performances were not that stable. I reached the quarter-finals of a few tournaments but then I also lost in the early rounds in a few others.
“This year, I need to improve on this and at least make the last eight in every tournament,” said Tze Yong.
The youngster knows that he has work to do to break into the top 16 in the world and make the cut for the Olympics by the end of the one-year qualification period.
For now, he is aiming to break into the top 20 by the end of 2023.
“I aim to reach No. 20 in the world this year. I don’t want to look too far ahead as I still need to improve on many aspects in my game,” concluded Tze Yong.
“This year, I’m going to compete regularly in higher-tier tournaments (Super 750 and 1000 events) and it will be tough as all the top players will be there. Everyone will really go all out to do well. I need to raise my own game and be more consistent,” said Tze Yong.
He is currently gearing up for the Malaysian Open from Jan 10-15 at the Axiata Arena where he will open his campaign against Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen. A win for Tze Yong should set-up an intriguing all-Malaysian clash against independent player and world No. 2 Lee Zii Jia.
However, Zii Jia first needs to navigate a tough opening round match against Japan’s world No. 7 Kodai Naraoka.
