KUALA LUMPUR − After displaying an impressive form to reach the India Open semi-finals in his maiden Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Super 500 event (third-tier), Ng Tze Yong vows to improve his stamina and speed to be able to rub shoulders with the world top players.
The 21-year-old Johorean − ranked 70 in the world − ended his campaign in New Delhi following a 21-19, 16-21, 12-21 defeat to world number 17 Lakshya Sen of India after a hard battle for 67 minutes in the last four stage yesterday.
Tze Yong, who had a good year in 2021 by winning three lower-tier tournament titles − the Polish Open, Belgian International and Scottish Open − admitted that he could not catch up to Sen’s rhythm in the third game, which led to his defeat.
“Overall, I am happy with the results because this is my 500 tournament debut. In the first game, I didn’t face any problem (while) in the second, I lost focus when leading 12-10 before he (Sen) increased the speed further in the rubber set, which I couldn’t follow.
“I felt I needed to work on increasing my speed though I could match his speed in the first two games, I couldn’t in the decider,” he said through a video from the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) today.
Tze Yong was forced to play until the rubber set since his first round − when he stunned world number 28 Tommy Sugiarto of Indonesia 21-16, 14-21, 21-5 before recording comeback wins against Frenchman Lucas Claerbout 20-22, 21-15, 21-18 in the second round and Nhat Nguyen of Ireland 9-21, 21-8, 21-16 in the quarterfinals.
He will next feature in the Syed Modi India International 2022 in Lucknow, India from January 18-23. – Bernama, January 16, 2022
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