KUALA LUMPUR – The national badminton squad will train for 10 days in the Aire Sur La Lys region of France, from July 10 to July 20, in preparation for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Road to Gold (RTG) programme coordinator Datuk Stuart Ramalingam said that in addition to the pre-Olympic training camp, the RTG committee fulfilled two other requests from the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) to attend training camps abroad in preparation for two tournaments in China, namely the Asian Badminton Championships (BAC) 2024 in Ningbo (April 9 to 4), followed by the Thomas Cup and Uber 2024 in Chengdu (April 28 to May 5).
“The first training camp before the BAC will start from March 26 to April 6, while the second training camp before the Thomas Cup and Uber will be from April 15 to 24,” he said after the RTG committee meeting yesterday.
So far, seven players under the auspices of BAM have been listed in the RTG programme, namely men’s singles player Ng Tze Yong, 2022 world men’s doubles champion Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik, top women’s doubles Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah and the country’s number one mixed doubles Chen Tang Jie-Toh Ee Wei.
Meanwhile, Stuart said the RTG committee has given the green light for national track cycling champion Datuk Mohd Azizulhasni Awang and teammate Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom to attend a centralised training camp before going to the world’s biggest sports games.
He said the two riders will attend two training camps each in Brisbane, Australia, from March 23 to April 13 and Silverstone, United Kingdom, from June 9 to 13, while the pre-Olympic training camp will be held in Mallorca, Spain, from June 13 to August 1.
At the same time, Stuart stated that the committee is monitoring Azizulhasni’s health after he underwent open heart surgery in April 2022 at Epworth Richmond Hospital in Melbourne and that he continues to receive training and medical care on a regular basis.
In other developments, RTG co-chairman Tan Sri Mohamad Norza Zakaria said that Tze Yong underwent a successful back operation at the National Sports Institute recently and wished him a speedy recovery.
Aside from the back injury, Tze Yong’s dream of competing in the 2024 Olympic Games, scheduled from July 26 to August 11, is difficult to ensure after he also suffered a lower back muscle injury during the Malaysian Open in January.
Tze Yong’s back surgery is expected to keep him out of action for several weeks, and the qualifying period for Paris 2024 ends on April 28.
A country can only send two representatives to the singles event if both players are ranked in the world’s top 16 in the Race to Paris rankings by the end of the qualifying period. Professional player Lee Zii Jia is currently ranked 10th, while Tze Yong is ranked 15th but risks losing that position if he continues to miss the qualifying tournament. – March 1, 2024
