Tze Yong set to face Paris Olympics silver medalist at Asian meet

Ng, who has been out of action for more than a year due to a back injury, is able to feature at this prestigious Asian meet due to his protected ranking of 18.

The Johor-born, who has now slumped to 1,924 on the world rankings having not played for so long, will be happy to just onto court for a competitive match.

Vitidsarn is the overwhelming favourite to beat Ng, and for the Malaysian it would be a good warm-up match as he returns to the professional circuit.

The BAC draw has provided challenging tests for the rest of the Malaysian contingent too.

Leong Jun Hao will face Chinese Taipei’s Lin Chun-yi, who did well in the European competitions this month.

Men’s doubles Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin will take on Japan’s Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi who is set to return to action after a long layoff.

Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik will also face a Japanese pair Kenya Mitsuhashi-Hiroki Okamura, while women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-M.Thinaah are due to face South Koreans Kim Hye-jeong-Kong Hee Yong.

The Malaysian shuttlers are desperate for a good outing after failing miserably at the recent European outing, where no representative made it past the quarter-finals.

The last Malaysian to win a BAC title was Lee Zii Jia in 2022.