Established players: Lee Zii Jia and Ng Tze Yong (top) are the county’s current top two men’s singles shuttlers.
PETALING JAYA: An intriguing battle is taking shape between Lee Zii Jia and Ng Tze Yong for the starting berth in the men’s singles in the Sudirman Cup in Suzhou, China, from May 14-19.
World No. 4 Zii Jia and world No. 25 Tze Yong are the country’s current top two men’s singles shuttlers and both have been selected for the prestigious team meet.
Zii Jia is the more established player but Tze Yong has shown steady improvement over the past year and is being groomed for the 2024 Paris Olympics along with the former.
“Zii Jia has established himself and has proven before this that he is a reliable team player in the Sudirman Cup,” said national men’s singles coaching director Wong Choong Hann.
“At the same time, sometimes each player has preferences in opponents and we will look at the percentages of winning and which player is feeling more confident.
“These are the minor elements we will discuss but we need to do our level best to prepare both Zii Jia and Tze Yong for the matches.”
Malaysia have been placed in a tricky Group C along with India, Taiwan and Australia.
India and Taiwan are both set to pose strong challenges in the men’s singles through H.S. Prannoy (No. 9) and Chou Tien-chen (No. 6) respectively.
India can also choose to call on either K. Srikanth (No. 23) or Lakshya Sen (No. 24) while Taiwan have Wang Tzu-wei (No. 22) and January’s Thailand Masters winner Lin Chun-yi (No. 29).
Meanwhile, the players selected for the Sudirman Cup will undergo a centralised training camp after the Asian Championships from April 25-30.
“We have yet to finalise the date for the centralised training camp but it should be after the Asian meet,” said Choong Hann.
“The camp will include both national and independent players, and will be aimed towards building unity and team spirit.”
Besides Zii Jia and Tze Yong, the others in the squad are reigning world champions Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi (men’s doubles); Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah, Valeree Siow-Go Pei Kee (women’s doubles); Goh Soon Huat-Shevon Lai Jemie, Tan Kian Meng-Lai Pei Jing, Orleans Masters champions Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei and Hoo Pang Ron-Teoh Mei Xing (mixed doubles).
