KUALA LUMPUR: The national badminton squad will camp for 10 days in the Aire Sur La Lys region, France, from July 10-20 to undergo a training camp before the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
They will also undergo training camps abroad in preparation for two tournaments in China, namely the Asian Badminton Championships (BAC) in Ningbo (April 9-14) followed by Thomas Cup and Uber Finals in Chengdu (April 28-May 5).
Road To Gold (RTG) programme coordinator Datuk Stuart Ramalingam said the RTG committee had approved all.
Seven Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) players under the RTG programme are singles player Ng Tze Yong, former world doubles champions Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, top women’s doubles Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah and the country’s No. 1 mixed doubles Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei.
The independent players are Lee Zii Jia (men’s singles) and Goh Jin Wei (women’s singles).
Meanwhile, RTG co-chairman Tan Sri Norza Zakaria said Tze Yong had a successful operation on his back at the National Sports Institute (NSI) recently and prayed for the 23-year-old’s speedy recovery.
Tze Yong had suffered a setback in his bid to compete in the Olympic Games from July 26-Aug 11after suffering a lower back muscle injury during the Malaysian Open in January.
He is expected to be out of action for several weeks and the qualifying period for Paris Games will end on April 28.
A country can only have two representatives in the singles event, if both players are ranked in the world’s top 16 in the Race to Paris rankings by the final qualifying period, with professional player Zii Jia currently ranked 10th, while Tze Yong is ranked 15th but risks losing that position if he continues to miss out the qualifying tournament. — Bernama
