NSI Always Ready To Help Shuttler Tze Yong Get Back To His Smashing Best

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 9 (Bernama) -- The National Sports Institute (NSI) provides men's singles shuttler Ng Tze Yong with psychological assistance and not medications that can help him recover instantaneously, said its chief executive officer Ahmad Faedzal Md Ramli.

He is confident that the effort taken will succeed as all parties are highly committed to ensuring the 2022 Commonwealth Games silver medallist is fully prepared to return to competing at the highest level.

"We are in constant contact with Tze Yong and, even during the rehabilitation process at NSI, we not only focused on injury rehabilitation but also how he can overcome the mental barrier because whenever athletes are in the rehab phase, their mental state is quite fragile.

"I believe that is the process being taken with Tze Yong. In any sport, athletes must work together with us so that we can face the challenges together and be open enough to tell us what other problems they have so that we can help them,” he said when met by Bernama here today.

Meanwhile, Akademi Badminton Malaysia (ABM) coaching director Rexy Mainaky revealed that although Tze Yong has rejoined training, the 25-year-old is still struggling to cope with the trauma of the two back injuries he suffered.

Tze Yong first suffered a muscle tear in his back at the 2024 Malaysia Open followed by a spinal injury at the 2024 Badminton Asia Team Championship (BATC), which saw him undergo a series of surgeries.

This saw Tze Yong miss out on making his debut at the 2024 Olympic Games after the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) confirmed that he was not ready to continue training or take part in high-level competitions due to the risk of aggravating his back injury.

NSI medical specialist Dr Jasmiza Khuzairi had even commented about the rarity of Tze Yong's case, saying that, out of the 2,000 operations conducted at NSI, only two such operations had been carried out.

-- BERNAMA