Kim Her’s old boys in India need new coach now

PETALING JAYA: World No. 10 Chirag Shetty-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy of India are in desperate need of a new coach to put their Tokyo Olympics preparations back on track.

Chirag-Satwiksairaj, who are out to create history as the first Indian men’s doubles medallists at the Olympics, suffered a setback when their Indonesian coach Flandy Limpele resigned abruptly, citing family reasons, last month.

Flandy, the 2004 Athens bronze medallist, left barely a year after he was hired by Badminton Association of India (BAI) to replace former Malaysian international Tan Kim Her.Kim Her served the BAI for four years before quitting in March last year to take up a new challenge with powerhouse Japan.

Fortunately, time is on Chirag-Satwiksairaj’s side now that the Olympics has been postponed to next year.

“We will definitely get more time to prepare now, ” Chirag told Indian news agency Press Trust of India.

“Since it is more than a year, I believe we will get a new foreign coach. If the Olympics had happened this year as scheduled, we wouldn’t have got one, since a coach for three to four months wouldn’t make sense. Now, BAI might get one to help us.”

Flandy played a big part in helping Chirag-Satwiksairaj break into the world’s top 10 last year, courtesy of their Thailand Open victory and a semi-final run at the French Open.

But Satwiksairaj admitted they wouldn’t have made it to this stage without Kim Her, either.

Following their remarkable triumph over 2018 world champions Li Junhui-Liu Yuchen in the Thailand Open final, Satwiksairaj paid tribute to Kim Her.

In an interview with The New Indian Express then, Satwiksairaj recounted how Kim Her turned him and Chirag from enemies to friends.

“We had different partners. We played against each other and did not like each other at all, ” said Satwiksairaj.

“So when Tan (Kim Her) brought us together, it was quite weird. Chirag is from a big city (Mumbai), I am from a small town in Andhra Pradesh.

“There was a big communication gap. Tan brought in the comfort that is required for partners to gel together. He taught us how to communicate with each other.”

Chirag chipped in: “Only two months into our partnership, Tan told us that in two years we would be in the top 30. I didn’t believe it, but it happened.

“I would have been content just playing these top-level tournaments. To win is something that I have still to come to terms with. All credit goes to Tan as coach. He was compassionate and paid special attention to us.”

Chirag-Satwiksairaj were the world No. 20 when Kim Her bade farewell to the BAI.

One of their notable achievements under Kim Her was winning silver at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, making them the first-ever Indian medal winners in the event.