KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 — National badminton legend, Datuk Rashid Sidek feels sympathy for the fate of men’s singles shuttler Ng Tze Yong, who had to abandon his dream of making his Olympics debut at the 2024 Olympics Games in Paris.

The men’s singles bronze medallist from the 1996 Atlanta Olympics said Tze Yong’s "nightmare” was a loss for the country, which would not have two representatives in the event at the quadrennial extravaganza.

"If I couldn’t go to the Olympics, I would feel frustrated, but what can we do if it’s not meant to be for Tze Yong to go there.

"It’s a real loss for us not to have two representatives in Paris. I believe the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) would have wanted to have two representatives if possible, but we have to accept this fact and focus on helping Tze Yong prepare for the next tournament until the next Olympics (Los Angeles 2028),” he told Bernama.

Asked whether participating in Los Angeles 2028 would be too late for the 23-year-old player to set foot in the Olympics, Rashid rejected such a notion saying age is not the measure of success for a player on the world’s most prestigious sports stage.

He said that he won a medal for the country in Atlanta 1996 when he was 28 years old, while the champion of that edition, Poul-Erik Hoyer Larsen from Denmark, also achieved a proud moment for his country at the age of 30.

"Just like Datuk Lee Chong Wei, the last time he won the silver medal (Rio 2016), he was 33 years old. What’s important depends on the player, if they feel they can still play at the age of 30, it’s up to them,” he said.

Therefore, the 55-year-old former national player hopes Tze Yong can fully focus on the recovery process following his recent back surgery before returning to the court.

He said the world No. 18 player cannot be hasty and force himself to act immediately to avoid worsening the situation in the future.

"Take care of your health first. If you have fully recovered, you can start full training again because this injury is quite serious. Don’t force yourself, if it gets worse, it could reach a point where you can’t even walk,” he said.

Yesterday, BAM confirmed Tze Yong’s dream to compete in the 2024 Olympics was shattered after the world No. 18 player was still not ready to continue training and high-level competition, which risked worsening his back injury.

Thus, BAM announced that a surgeon, physiotherapist, coaches, and Tze Yong himself had agreed that the Johor player was not physically ready for the 2024 Badminton Asian Team Championships (BAC) in Ningbo, China, from April 9 to 14, which is the last chance for him to qualify for Paris 2024.

The men’s singles silver medallist at the 2022 Commonwealth Games was scheduled to kick off his BAC 2024 campaign against Taiwan’s Wang Tzu Wei.

Tze Yong, who has been resting since February, has been dropped from the top 16 positions in the Race to Paris rankings ahead of the April 28 qualification deadline.

Professional player Lee Zii Jia is in the best position to compete for the second time at the Olympics after Tokyo 2020, as he occupies the 10th position in the Race to Paris rankings with 68,296 points.

A country can only send two representatives for individual events if both players are in the top 16 rankings in the Race to Paris.

The 2024 Olympics is scheduled to officially kick off on July 26 and end on Aug 11. — Bernama