Trust and great teamwork are perfect recipe for success, says Kim Her

Listen up: Japan’s men’s doubles coach Tan Kim Her giving instructions to his players.

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s Tan Kim Her is staying grounded despite guiding Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi to become Japan’s first world champions in the men’s doubles.

Kim Her is the man who saw Hoki-Kobayashi enjoy a good second half of the year that culminated with them beating He Jiting-Tan Qiang of China in the men’s doubles final at the World Championships in Huelva last month.

The world No. 6, who finished runners-up to Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia in the last edition in Basel in 2019, also did well to win titles in the Denmark Open, Indonesian Masters, the World Tour Finals and finished second at the Indonesian Open.

Kim Her is one of the few Malaysian coaches who are doing a great job with teams in a foreign land.

The others include Jeremy Gan with the Japan mixed doubles team, Wong Tat Meng (South Korea’s women’s singles) and Choong Tan Fook (Hong Kong’s doubles).

The 50-year-old Kim Her said there were no secrets, just lots of hard work, trust, and a great teamwork under the charge of head coach Park Joo-bong.

“We did a lot of work with Takuro and Yugo after the seniors left (Takeshi Kamura-Keigo Sonoda). We invested a lot of time on watching videos, match analysis, discussions but most importantly, the players trusted me,” said Kim Her.

“They know that with my experience, I can guide them to a different level.

“Also, I have a very good chief coach in Park. He is very supportive and understanding, especially after the seniors retired. I spoke to him about my plan and what I intended to do with different methods and he was fully supportive.

“Everything was teamwork.”

“I enjoy working under Park as he always discusses with all the coaches and gets our opinions first before making a final decision.

“He also listens to the coaches’ problems and try to solve them, so we feel very secure with Park around.”

Before his one year and eight-month stint in Japan, Kim Her also had coaching stints in India, South Korea, England and Malaysia. In total, he had served as a coach for 23 years since 1999.

“Every country has their own culture and politics too, what’s important is to find the best approach to build myself as a coach and impart the knowledge to the players sincerely. There is never an end to learning... in fact, I’m still learning,” said Kim Her.

“I believe my stint in India (2016-2019) built me a lot as a coach. The players in India gave me a lot of support and trusted in me.

“P. Gopichand (chief coach) also gave me the freedom to manage the doubles department, similar to Japan.

“My job is to show improvement in players and produce better results every year.

“This year, my goal with Japan is to produce good results in the Asian Games (in Hangzhou, China in September),” he said.

Japan have not won a men’s doubles gold medal in Asiad but their best was a silver won through Junji Honma-Shoichi Toganoo at the 1970 Bangkok Games.

On whether he would return to Malaysia one day, Kim Her said: “I’ve always wanted to come back but that depends if there is still room for me. Malaysia is my country.”