First test: Ng Tze Yong has been out of action for more than a year following two back surgeries.
PETALING JAYA: Men’s singles shuttler Ng Tze Yong faces a tough opening task against Thailand’s reigning world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn in the Asian Championships from April 8-13 in Ningbo, China.
Tze Yong will be making his long awaited comeback in the tournament, which is equivalent to a World Tour Super 1000 event after he was sidelined for more than a year following two back surgeries.
The 24-year-old, who has a protected ranking of No. 18, could not have asked for a much harder first match upon his return against world No. 5 Kunlavut.
The Thai ace is seeded third in the competition behind only China’s Shi Yuqi and Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie and is one of the favourites for the title.
In senior tourneys, Tze Yong has played once against Kunlavut in the 2023 Singapore Open second round where he went down in three games to the 23-year-old.
Meanwhile, Malaysia will also be represented in the men’s singles by world No. 26 Leong Jun Hao and world No. 50 Justin Hoh.
Jun Hao, who is the country’s highest ranked men’s singles player in the absence of injured national No. 1 Lee Zii Jia, also faces a stern test in the first round against Taiwan’s world No. 11 Lin Chun-yi.
The 25-year-old will be making his debut in the competition and if he manages to beat Chun-yi, he will take on either China’s Lu Guangzu or India’s H. S. Prannoy in the second round.
Qualifier Justin, who replaced Zii Jia, should have no problems overcoming both Philippines’ Jewel Angelo Albo and Iran’s Amirhossein Hasani in Group A to reach the tournament proper and set up a meeting against South Korea’s world No. 41 Jeon Hyeok-jin.
In the women’s singles, Goh Jin Wei, K. Letshanaa and Wong Ling Ching will be in action for the country.
Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun stands in Jin Wei’s way in the first round while both Letshanaa and Ling Ching will start from the group stage.
