KUALA LUMPUR: National No 1 Ng Tze Yong got the perfect ending to his 2022 season when he clinched the Bahrain International Challenge title on Sunday.
The 22-year-old top seed, landed his maiden crown this year following a 21-15, 20-22, 21-12 win over Taiwan's Kuo Kuan Lin in the final.
After reaching the semi-finals of the Super 300 India Open in January, and the final of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in August, Tze Yong not only achieved his target of breaking into the world top 30, but looks to be in good shape to join the big boys next year.
Currently ranked No 27 in the world, Tze Yong is eligible to compete in higher tier tournaments, starting with the Super 1000 Malaysia Open on Jan 10-15.
In fact, the Johor-born is expected to move up the world ranking today following his feat in Bahrain.
Academy Badminton Malaysia singles coaching director, Wong Choong Hann, told Timesport that Tze Yong could not have asked for a better ending to the season.
"Good for Tze Yong to end the year with a victory. He's now secured extra points to stabilise his ranking for next season.
"The end of the year will be his time to sharpen up all areas. Then it's all system go from January onwards," said Choong Hann who had initially planned for the Bahrain IC to be a backup plan.
Tze Yong, who is being groomed to be Malaysia's next big name in men's singles, is raring to play in the big leagues next year.
In a short statement, he said: "I hope I can keep this momentum going into the new year.
"I'm really excited and am hoping to perform at the Malaysia Open in front of all the home fans."
Currently, Tze Yong is Malaysia's second highest ranked men's singles behind world No 2 Lee Zii Jia.