KUALA LUMPUR: National doubles coach Tan Kim Her has introduced night training sessions for the back-up shuttlers to accomplish two missions – to fast track the progress of his charges and also experiment the new scoring system.
Kim Her has been put in charge of the future crop of doubles players and his immediate mission is to see one of them winning an international title by the end of this year.
Those under his care are Low Juan Shen-Nelson Heg Wei Keat, Tai An Khang-Woon Mun Chun, Ong Yew Sin-Darren Issac, Yew Hong Kheng-Tan Wee Gieen, Mohd Amzzar Zainuddin-Ng Di Hua, Chua Khek Wei-Chan Ren Cong.
Juan Shen-Nelson did creditably well to reach the quarter-finals of the Asian Badminton Championships in April while An Khang-Mun Chun also made it to the last eight of the China Masters Grand Prix Gold in April.
Kim Her said that the back-up shuttlers should be prepared to go through the mill.
“There is a still a gap between the back-up and seniors players. The extra training at night is an extra platform for me to push them hard. It also gives me the opportunity to try out the new scoring format,” said Kim Her.
The Badminton World Federation (BWF) have proposed to test out a new scoring format – 11 points in a best-of-five games – from Aug 1 to Nov 2 for all their level three and four tournaments like the Grand Prix Gold and satellite tournaments.
Kim Her’s players will get to try out the new format during the Taiwan Open Grand Prix Gold from July 15-20.
“Some of these back-up players have the potential but they need the exposure. I have set a realistic target for them – to win at least one international title by the end of this year. We hope to see some strong showing from them at the Taiwan Open,” he added.
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