HAVING the maximum number of qualifiers at the Olympic Games may not necessarily ensure success and this was proven at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, said coach Tan Kim Her.
Hosts Japan had Hiroyuki Endo-Yuta Watanabe and Takeshi Kamura-Keigo Sonoda while Indonesia fielded Marcus Fernaldi-Kevin Sanjaya and Mohammad Ahsan-Hendra Setiawan but none managed to win medals.
In fact, four other countries who had just one representative secured the medals.
Taiwan broke the monopoly of the top nations when Lee Yang-Wang Chi-lin won their country’s first gold in badminton while China’s Li Junhui-Liu Yuchen won the silver as Malaysians Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik outplayed Hendra-Ahsan to settle for bronze.
Japan will bank on world No. 4 Takuro Hoki-Yugo Kobayashi for Paris 2024 as their second pair Akira Koga-Taichi Saito are ranked No. 26.
“Sometimes, having two pairs doesn’t guarantee a medal. Countries can even win gold with just one pair,” said Kim Her.
“Japan had two pairs at the last Olympics but we did not win a medal.
“We will try to have two pairs for Paris but we can also do well with just one pair as long as they have the confidence and determination to go for a medal.”
Kim Her is also not too worried about Hoki-Kobayashi’s form as they only had five days of training before the Malaysian Open.
The 2021 world champions failed to defend the title after crashing out in the first round.
Kim Her said the main focus this year for the top pair is the All-England in Birmingham (March 14-19), the World Championships in Copenhagen (Aug 21-27) and the Hangzhou Asian Games (Sept 23-Oct 8).
“I always tell them (Hoki-Kobayashi) that they cannot win all the time but they must maintain their performance level,” said Kim Her.
“Their performance has not been good over the last five months but they need to bounce back and focus on the major events.
“The priority is the Paris Olympics while there are three tournaments this year where they must target medals.”
Expectations are high ever since Hoki-Kobayashi became Japan’s first world champions in Spain two years ago.
Despite the presence of Koga-Saito and Keiichiro Matsui-Yoshinori Takeuchi, Kim Her will be hoping for Hoki-Kobayashi to take the men’s doubles world by storm again and go for gold at the 2024 Paris.
