Hard luck: Ng Tze Yong in action before injuring his back in the first-round match against Koki Watanabe of Japan in the Malaysian Open. — S.S.KANESAN/The Star
KUALA LUMPUR: Men’s singles shuttler Ng Tze Yong faces a nervous wait to know the extent of his back injury.
Tze Yong was forced to retire from his first round match against Japan’s Koki Watanabe in the Malaysian Open on Wednesday while trailing 8-12 after hurting his back.
The 23-year-old underwent a scan after the match and is waiting for the doctor’s report.
“Tze Yong had a scan after the match and we are waiting for more details regarding his injury,” said national men’s singles coach Datuk Tey Seu Bock.
“We had an appointment with the doctor yesterday but he had something on and could not see us.
“Hopefully, we can know more today. We don’t know whether it’s a muscle tear or something else.
“We have stopped his training for now,” added Seu Bock.
Tze Yong is now a doubt for the Indian Open in New Delhi, which starts next Tuesday.
Missing more tournaments could deal a major blow to Tze Yong’s hopes of making the cut for the Paris Olympics with the qualifying period coming to an end in April.
He is currently ranked No. 15 in the world and needs to maintain his position in the top 16 to book a spot in the Olympics.
“As a coach, I’m worried about Tze Yong’s condition as we are now in the Olympic qualifying phase,” said Seu Bock.
“His tournament scheduling could be rearranged if he is forced to sit out more competitions. We are hoping that his injury is not too serious.”
The other Malaysian who is also in the hunt for a place in the Olympics in the men’s singles is world No. 11 Lee Zii Jia.
Zii Jia’s campaign had also ended early in the home Open when he went down 21-16, 19-21, 15-21 to China’s world No. 19 Lu Guangzu in his opening match.
SECOND ROUND RESULTS
Malaysians unless stated
MEN’S SINGLES: Shi Yuqi (Chn) bt Toma Junior Popov (Fra) 21-13, 21-5; Anders Antonsen (Den) bt Koki Watanabe (Jpn) 21-14, 21-17; Viktor Axelsen (Den) bt Lee Cheuk Yiu (Hkg) 21-17, 20-22, 21-17; Lu Guangzu (Chn) bt Anthony Ginting (Ina) 23-21, 25-23; Angus Ng Ka Long (Hkg) bt K. Srikanth (Ind) 21-13, 21-17; Kodai Naraoka (Jpn) bt Brian Yang (Can) 22-20, 20-22, 21-16; Lin Chun-yi (Tpe) bt Kunlavut Vitidsarn (Tha) 21-18, 21-16.
MEN’S DOUBLES: Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi bt Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen (Den) 21-10, 11-21, 24-22; Kang Min-hyuk-Seo Seung-jae (Kor) bt Lee Jhe-huei-Yang Po-hsuan (Tpe) 21-13, 21-14; Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik bt Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani 21-15, 21-16; He Jiting-Ren Xiangyu (Chn) bt Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan (Ina) 21-17, 15-7, rtd; Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty (Ind) bt Lucas Corvee-Ronan Labar (Fra) 21-11, 21-18; Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi (Jpn) bt Alexander Dunn-Adam Hall (Sco) 21-11, 21-13.
WOMEN’S SINGLES: Yeo Jia Min (Sin) bt Han Yue (Chn) 16-21, 21-19, 22-20; Gregoria Mariska (Ina) bt Goh Jin Wei 21-15, 24-22; Chen Yufei (Chn) bt Ratchanok Intanon (Tha) 21-15, 21-18; Tai Tzu-ying (Tpe) bt Busanan Ongbamrungphan (Tha) 21-7, 21-11; An Se-young (Kor) bt Yvonne Li (Ger) 21-13, 21-8; He Bingjiao (Chn) bt Wang Zhiyi (Chn) 16-21, 21-19, 21-11; Akane Yamaguchi (Jpn) bt Kristy Gilmour (Sco) 21-9, 21-14; Zhang Yiman (Chn) bt Hsu Wen-chi (Tpe) 21-8, 21-10.
WOMEN’S DOUBLES: Chen Qingchen-Jia Yifan (Chn) bt Maiken Fruergaard-Sara Thygesen (Den) 21-13, 22-20; Rin Iwanaga-Kie Nakanishi (Jpn) bt Kim So-yeong-Kong Hee-yong (Kor) 21-16, 21-16; Tanisha Crasto-Ashwini Ponnappa (Ind) bt Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara (Jpn) 21-19, 13-21, 21-15; Liu Shengshu-Tan Ning (Chn) bt Li Yijing-Luo Xumin (Chn) 21-19, 21-10; Li Wenmei-Liu Xuanxuan (Chn) bt Jongkolphan Kititharakul-Rawinda Prajongjai (Tha) 19-21, 22-20, 21-14; Zhang Shuxian-Zheng Yu (Chn) bt Annie Xu-Kerry Xu (Usa) 21-14, 21-8.
MIXED DOUBLES: Dechapol Puavaranukroh-Sapsiree Taerattanachai (Tha) bt Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie 21-15, 21-12; Hiroki Midorikawa-Natsu Saito (Jpn) bt Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei 24-22, 21-14; Yuta Watanabe-Arisa Higashino (Jpn) bt Mathias Thyrri-Amalie Magelund (Den) 21-15, 21-11; Zheng Siwei-Huang Yaqiong (Chn) bt Rehan Naufal-Lisa Ayu (Ina) 21-18, 21-17; Seo Seung-jae-Chae Yu-jung (Kor) bt Dejan Ferdinansyah-Gloria Emanuelle (Ina) 21-12, 21-16; Kim Won-ho-Jeong Na-eun (Kor) bt Kyohei Yamashita-Naru Shinoya (Jpn) 11-21, 21-17, 21-18; Jiang Zhenbang-Wei Yaxin (Chn) bt Chan Peng Soon-Cheah Yee See 21-14, 21-14; Terry Hee-Jessica Tan (Sin) bt Supak Jomkoh-Supissara Paewsampran (Tha) 21-14, 23-21.
