Danger zone: Ng Tze Yong is currently in 17th spot in the Race to Paris rankings – one place below the cut off mark.
PETALING JAYA: Men’s singles shuttler Ng Tze Yong is racing against time to save his Paris Olympics dream.
Tze Yong is fighting to return to full fitness in time for the Asian Championships from April 9-14 in Ningbo, China, which is the last qualifying event for the Olympics.
The 23-year-old, who underwent back surgery last month to deal with a spinal issue, is currently in 17th spot in the Race to Paris rankings – one place below the cut off mark.
National coaching director Rexy Mainaky acknowledged that Tze Yong has a tough task to overcome his injury trauma and make a last-ditch attempt to win a spot in the Olympics.
“Tze Yong will not be able to qualify for the Olympics if he does not play in the Asian meet,” said Rexy.
“He also needs to reach the latter stages of the tournament to get a spot in Paris.
“It depends if he can overcome his injury trauma. He is still struggling to cover the whole court in training.
“I had a discussion with singles coach (Datuk Tey) Seu Bock earlier yesterday and he told me that Tze Yong is frustrated that he still has many restrictions.
“He needs to be confident with his own body if he wants to make a return,” added Rexy.
If Tze Yong is unable to make his comeback in the Asian meet and misses the boat to Paris, he will then focus on getting back to full fitness for the Thomas Cup Finals from April 27-May 5 in Chengdu.
“If Tze Yong does not feel confident with his condition before the Asian meet, he can forget about the Olympics and focus on the Thomas Cup,” said Rexy.
“He will still be an important player for us in the team meet and ideally we want him to be 100 percent fit for the competition.”
Rexy faces a headache to name the players for the team meet with the likes of Lee Zii Jia and youngster Justin Hoh also having fitness issues.
“Justin is just making his return from injury in the ongoing Thailand International Challenge and we need to monitor his condition,” said Rexy.
“Hopefully, Zii Jia’s leg injury in the recent Swiss Open is also not serious.”
Malaysia will face Denmark, Hong Kong and Algeria in Group D in the Thomas Cup.
