Ng Tze Yong ready for next step as Lee Chong Wei encourages Paris 2024 Olympic target
Lee says Malaysia's world number 26 should set his sights on qualifying for next year's Games, as national team coaches discuss how he can improve.
Badminton
Malaysian badminton isn't all about Lee Zii Jia. Coming up on the radar is world number 26 Ng Tze Yong.
Johor native Ng has enjoyed some recent good results, reaching the quarter-finals at his last three BWF World Tour tournaments this season in addition to picking up Commonwealth Games silver at Birmingham 2022 last year.
However, with the world ranking Olympic Games qualifying window about to open in May, Ng faces a fight to improve his standing.
Only athletes in the world's top 16 are guaranteed a place at Paris 2024 with a maximum of two per team. Players ranked 17th and below can only qualify if their team has not already qualified any other player.
With Lee safely inside the world top 10, seemingly the only way for 22-year-old Ng can compete in Paris is to find his way into the top 16.
One person who knows all about the Games is Malaysia's three-time Olympic silver medallist Lee Chong Wei, who would like to see Ng qualify.
He said last month during a media event: "Tze Yong needs to make sure that he qualifies for the Paris edition because if he misses this opportunity, it’s hard to say what will happen when the next Olympics comes around (in 2028).
"I managed to qualify for the (Rio 2016) Olympics (from rank 182) and if I could do so, nothing is stopping Tze Yong from doing the same. Winning a medal might be hard for him for now but he must at least compete in the Olympics."
Ng Tze Yong as a badminton player: How can he improve?
So the question for the Johorean may be, what does he have to do to make the cut for Paris 2024?
Unlike Lee Zii Jia, who left to become an independent player last year, Ng still trains with the national team group under the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) coaches.
Malaysia's men's singles head coach Hendrawan, himself an Olympic silver medallist for Indonesia at Sydney 2000, expressed his view that Ng is not fully ready for the big-time just yet.
"To reach the top, you need to become a complete player and Tze Yong is not there yet," the coach said recently in quotes reported by The Star.
"He struggles against players with different characteristics or style of play; we have noticed this in training.
"It's not that he doesn't want to fight hard in certain matches but he doesn't have the capacity yet."
The New Straits Times additionally quoted Hendrawan as comparing Ng to the current and past torchbearers for Malaysian badminton.
"Unlike Chong Wei and Zii Jia, Tze Yong is a player who needs to build physical strength and fitness as he goes along.
"Chong Wei and Zii Jia were already blessed with superior fitness and physique.
"Our target for Tze Yong remains the same, help him qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics."
What's the next step for Ng Tze Yong?
Ng has one last tournament to take part in before the Olympic qualifying rankings window opens on 1 May.
That will come at the 2023 Badminton Asia Championships from 25–30 April in Dubai, where his teammate Lee Zii Jia is the defending continental champion in singles.
The Commonwealth Games silver medallist recently picked up an injury at the Swiss Open, but Ng is back training at the Malaysia Badminton Academy facility under his BAM coaches.
After that, the rankings window will open, bringing with it the chase to climb the ladder and earn Malaysia a second spot in Paris.