Just move on: Ng Tze Yong wants the fan to stop taunting players from the stands.
PETALING JAYA: Shuttler Ng Tze Yong has shown admirable maturity in easing tensions among fans over the last few days.
Although Tze Yong was ready to move on after solving the off-court issues, the entire episode however, seemed to have distracted him at the Hylo Open in Saarbrucken, Germany, where he bowed out in the men’s singles second round yesterday.
Tze Yong suffered a 10-21, 7-21 defeat to Jan Lauda of the Czech Republic, thus ending a fine run in Europe.
The fan trouble began for Tze Yong in the semi-finals of the French Open en route to his defeat to Li Shifeng of China in Rennes on Saturday.
A vocal badminton fan had chanted and taunted ‘Are you sleeping, Ng Tze Yong?” In fact, the particular fan had also been seen using air horns.
Other Netizens chastised the fan for his behaviour and he was also said to have received death threats.
Following this, the fan apologised to Tze Yong for his behaviour at the French Open in his Instagram account.
Clearly sensing that the matter was getting out of hand, a thoughtful Tze Yong replied to the apology on Wednesday and also urged the fans to move on.
“I accept your apology, but just don’t do it anymore,” replied Tze Yong.
“I understand, you as a fan, hope that we can win the match, so maybe at that moment you didn’t think too much about it. Thank you for your continued support. Peace.”
On Wednesday, Tze Yong had also called for peace and asked the other fans to stop sending ‘death threats’.
“To all the fans, please stop sending him death threats. End in peace.”
The Hylo Open was Tze Yong’s sixth tournament in six weeks and the defeat could be a blessing in disguise for the Malaysian to recover mentally and physically.
His marathon run started at the Asian Games in Hangzhou in September where he played in the team and individual events and this was followed by the four consecutive tournaments in Europe beginning last month.
His two best outings were finishing as the runner-up to Lee Zii Jia in the Arctic Open in Finland and reaching the French Open semi-finals.
Meanwhile, it was the end of the road for mixed doubles pair Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie, who were playing at the Hylo Open with a heavy heart after being removed from the Road to Gold programme on Tuesday.
Soon Huat-Shevon lost 13-21, 14-21 to Hong Kong pair Tang Chun Man-Tse Ying Suet in the second round yesterday.
RESULTS
FIRST ROUND
Mixed doubles: Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie bt Dyon Van Wijlick-Kirsten De Wit (Hol) 21-12, 21-10; Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing bt Malik Bourakkadi-Leona Michalski (Ger) 21-4, 21-16.
SECOND ROUND
Men’s singles: Jan Louda (Cze) bt Ng Tze Yong 21-10, 21-7.
Mixed doubles: Tang Chun Man-Tse Ying Suet (HK) bt Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie 21-13, 21-14.
