Kim Her’s coaching methods working well for India

Tan Kim Her. -The Star filepic

WHEN Tan Kim Her was with Malaysia, he has never won a badminton gold medal as a player or a coach at the Commonwealth Games.

But on Monday, he was smiling from ear to ear when his charges especially the doubles players rose to the occasion as India toppled Malaysia 3-1 in the mixed team final at the Carrara Sports and Leisure Centre.

Kim Her has been India’s doubles coach since September 2016.

India inflicted pain when they stole the first point through Satwik Rankireddy-Ashwini Ponnappa in the mixed doubles.

Satwik-Ashwini were trailing 8-12 in the decider but fought their way to upset Rio Olympic Games silver medallists Chan Peng Soon-Goh Liu Ying.

And that motivated the Indians to go all the way to lift their first-ever team gold.

“The Malaysians were the favourites but I was perplexed by what happened to them,” said Kim Her.

“They were leading but got stuck in the game.

“They lacked ideas and I told our players to take opportunity of the situation and they did.

“I would have expected a better fight from the Malaysians.”

India’s strong performance has raised hopes of the team making a strong claim in the individual competition, which started yesterday.

Kim Her, who oversees the planning for the men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles said he was proud of India’s rise at the Commonwealth Games.

“I give instructions on what is important for the doubles and explain to them why I do it. They respect me for my experience and coaching style,” said Kim Her, who has two assistant coaches.

“We formed Satwik-Ashwini just six months ago and they have done well.

“Malaysia and England will still be our main challengers in the individual competitions,” he added.

Besides the mixed doubles, India are eyeing for a 1-2 finish in the men’s singles through K. Srikanth and H.S. Prannoy and another 1-2 sweep in the women’s singles through top seed P.V. Sindhu and second seed Saina Nehwal.