NATIONAL shuttler Ng Tze Yong will keep a low profile ahead of his Commonwealth Games debut in Birmingham later this month.
Despite his improvement in recent weeks, the 22-year-old Johor-born wants to remain grounded and not crumble under pressure.
Tze Yong, who played down talk of a podium finish, said: "I really just want to do my best, that's it.
"I don't want to think too far ahead, and end up disappointed.
"Honestly, there is still a gap, especially in terms of fitness and strength, between me and the world's top players. I really need to improve some more," said Tze Yong, who was brought in to replace Lee Zii Jia after the latter decided to skip the Commonwealth Games to focus on the World Championships.
Tze Yong, whose best achievement was a semi-final finish at the India Open in January, has been on a gradual rise, qualifying for the Malaysia Open and Malaysia Masters earlier this month.
This week, he moved three rungs up to No 44 on the world ranking.
In the Malaysia Masters, Tze Yong who came through the qualifiers, defeated Canada's Brian Yang.
At the recent Singapore Open he upset world No 12 Angus Ng and world No 15 Lee Cheuk Yiu, both from Hong Kong, en route to the quarter-finals. In the last eight, Tze Yong lost 21-15, 21-12 to eventual champion Anthony Sinisuka Ginting of Indonesia.
Tze Yong, who bagged three lower tier titles in Europe last year, will have to deal with formidable opponents in the Commonwealth Games, including reigning world champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore and India's Thomas Cup winner Lakshya Sen.
"My performance has improved in recent tournaments and yes I have grown in confidence.
"But I don't want to think too much about how far I can go in the Commonwealth Games," added Tze Yong.
Since the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, Malaysia have only missed out on the men's singles gold once, when India's P. Kashyap won in 2014 in Glasgow.
In 2018 in Gold Coast, Australia, Malaysia reclaimed the top prize through former world No 1 Lee Chong Wei, who also won gold in 2006 (Melbourne) and 2010 (New Delhi).
KW: badminton, Ng Tze Yong, cg2022