PETALING JAYA: Time is already against Ng Tze Yong to qualify for the Paris Olympic Games. And it did not help Tze Yong’s cause after losing to Anders Antonsen of Denmark in the men’s singles second round at the World Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark on Wednesday.
A more mature Tze Yong put up a classy show but it was not enough to beat homester Antonsen and the 23-year-old went down fighting 22-24, 16-21 at the Royal Arena.
Coach Hendrawan said he was not going to give any excuses for Tze Yong’s defeat.
“Tze Yong lost to a better opponent. Anders was more experienced and mature,” said Hendrawan.
“We still have work to do for Tze Yong.
“We know that he has improved but it’s still not enough.
“We are aware that we are also scrambling against time to qualify for the Paris Olympics and we are stuck right now.
“Tze Yong needs more time in training but he also has to go out for tournaments to build on his world ranking to qualify for Olympics.
“We’ve no choice but to send him for more tournaments in the limited time and hopefully, he can make the cut,” added Hendrawan.
In the men’s singles, a country can have two players if both of them are ranked in the top 16. And a country can have one if they are in the top 32 bracket.
Currently, Tze Yong is at the 22nd placing while independent shuttler Lee Zii Jia is lying at the 13th spot.
