KUALA LUMPUR – National shuttler Ng Tze Yong will be making his Malaysian Open debut at the Axiata Arena, Bukit Jalil.
Tze Yong was promoted at the last minute into the list for tomorrow’s tournament after several men’s singles players pulled out.
Kanta Tsuneyama, world number three Dane Anders Antonsen, India’s Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen have all withdrawn from the tournament.
Tze Yong will face China’s Lu Guang Zu in the first round of the tournament.
“I am very excited to have been promoted into the tournament. I did not expect it but nevertheless I am ready for the challenge.
“I have been training since the Thailand Open and I am in much better shape now,” he told The Vibes.
National ace Lee Zii Jia will also have a new opponent in the opening round after Frenchman Toma Popov Jr withdrew. The fifth seed will now face Nhat Nguyen from Ireland instead.
Tze Yong will also be replacing Zii Jia at the upcoming Commonwealth games after the world number five decided to skip the games to focus on the World Championships in Tokyo.
Meanwhile, national doubles coaching director Rexy Mainaky has high hopes for the national doubles pairs in the Malaysian Open.
Speaking at the test-court session today, Rexy said men’s doubles pair Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun have been recovering well after they sustained ankle and knee injuries respectively during the Hanoi SEA Games.
“According to the physiotherapists, they are fit to play. We have been observing them throughout their training to make sure they are up to the task,” he said.
The men’s doubles will be hoping to go all the way in the tournament as top-ranked pair Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo-Marcus Fernaldi Gideon from Indonesia withdrew due to injuries.
Indonesia’s Pramudya Kusumawardana-Yeremia Erich Yoche Yacob Rambitan will also be absent after the latter sustained an injury during the Indonesia Open quarter-finals against Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik.
This offered an opportunity for other national men’s doubles pairs such as Tan Wee Kiong-Tan Kian Meng and Junaidi Arif-Muhammad Haikal to be promoted into the tournament.
Rexy added that currently all the doubles pairings are in good condition without injuries.
“They are all in good condition. They had quality training over the week with the players from Netherlands and France at the Akademi Badminton Malaysia,” he said.
“We can see that they are ready for tomorrow.” – The Vibes, June 27, 2022
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