KUALA LUMPUR – National singles player Ng Tze Yong may be riding high from his Commonwealth Games silver medal but the shuttler’s rise is part of a long process, said men’s singles coach Hendrawan.
The 22-year-old Johorean is currently preparing for his BWF World Championships debut in Tokyo and Hendrawan hopes that the player’s success or failure in the tournament is not blown out of proportion.
“If he does well, we should not blow up his success too much, and if he does not do well, we should not criticise him too much, either. The ups and downs are all part of his development process,” he told the press at the Badminton Academy of Malaysia.
Hendrawan added that the youngster’s biggest hurdle now is the pressure placed on his shoulders.
“Because of his performance and results in Birmingham, people will now be expecting him to deliver in every tournament he competes in, and that will be his biggest challenge.
“He has already set a benchmark for himself,” he said.
In Birmingham, Tze Yong beat world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore in the quarter-finals, and world number 12 Kidambi Srikanth in the semi-finals.
However, Tze Yong was humbled in the final when he lost to 10th seed Lakshya Sen of India, missing out on the gold medal despite displaying an outstanding performance.
The Indonesian coach said although Tze Yong’s rise in performance was remarkable, staying consistent at that level is not easy.
“How Tze Yong has improved in the past few months does not necessarily mean that he will keep on that upward trend. There will be times that he will struggle. It can happen to anyone, even top players go through that. He just needs to trust the process.”
He added that the journey to the World Championships is similar to Tze Yong’s trip to Birmingham for the Commonwealth Games, as it also came at the eleventh hour.
“There are no expectations, but I want him to give his best performance. As long as he can do that, anything can happen. It all comes down to trusting the process,” he added.
Tze Yong heads to Tokyo today where he will take on Indonesian Chico Aura Dwi Wardoyo in the opening round.
Earlier, Badminton Association of Malaysia high-performance director Tim Jones told The Vibes that if Tze Yong maintains his form from the Commonwealth Games, a quarter-final spot is going to be likely. – The Vibes, August 17, 2022
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