PETALING JAYA: Starting from scratch again is tough but men’s singles shuttler Ng Tze Yong (pic) is out to work his way up as he prepares to make his comeback in the World Tour in the Taiwan Open starting today in Taipei.
Tze Yong, who suffered a back injury in the Malaysian Open in January last year, successfully returned to competitions in the Asian Championships in Ningbo last month.
The 24-year-old went down to reigning world champion Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in the first round but was pleased to play again after his long absence from tournaments and is keen to keep building his match fitness.
“It feels great to be back in tournaments after 14 months. The injury took so much from me especially mentally and emotionally but I managed to step back on court pain free and it was a positive start,” said Tze Yong via social media.
“Starting again from nothing but with a heart full of hope and fire.”
Despite being sidelined for more than a year, Tze Yong’s timely return in the Asian meet helped him safeguard his protected world ranking of No. 18 which makes him eligible to compete in the World Tour.
In the Taiwan tourney, Tze Yong could face fellow Malaysian Jacky Kok in the first round if the latter survives the qualifying rounds.
Jacky will meet India’s Aryamann Tandon in the first qualifying round and a win could see him take on either Indonesia’s Yohanes Saut or homester Wang Po-wei for a place in the tournament proper.
The other Malaysians in the fray in the men’s singles are Justin Hoh, Aidil Sholeh Ali Sadikin, Cheam June Wei and qualifier Tan Jia Jie.
Justin and June Wei have tough opening matches against homesters Su Li-yang and Wang Tzu-wei respectively while Aidil will open his campaign against a qualifier.
Meanwhile, the other Malaysians in action in the competition are K. Letshanaa, S. Kisona (women’s singles); Mohd Haikal Nazri-Choong Hon Jian, Aaron Tai-Kang Khai Xing, Low Hang Yee-Ng Eng Cheong, Chia Weijie-Lwi Sheng Hao, Goh Boon Zhe-Loo Bing Kun, Chen Tang Jie-Wong Vin Sean, Beh Chun Meng-Choi Jian Sheng, Boon Xin Yuan-Lee Yi Bo (men’s doubles); Ong Xin Yee-Carmen Ting, Cheng Su Hui-Tan Zhing Yi (women’s doubles); and Bing Kun-Toh Ee Wei, Tang Jie-Chan Wen Tse and Too Ming Yap-Lee Yu Shan (mixed doubles).
