PETALING JAYA: Men’s doubles head coach Herry Iman Pierngadi has expressed his displeasure over the decision made by Choong Hon Jian-Mohd Haikal Nazri to withdraw from the Swiss Open this week.
Haikal had complained of an right ankle injury after they were knocked out in the first round of the All-England last week.
However, Herry saw things differently and had hoped the pair would continue their campaign in Basel, but Haikal felt he was unable to carry on.
As a result, Herry told them to handle the withdrawal process themselves with the management of the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM).
“The pull out was not my decision. You have to ask the players. It wasn’t from me. Haikal was the one who wanted to pull out because he didn’t want to play in the Swiss.
“I told him to speak to the management about it. At that time, I was very focused on the All England as there were still many matches including the semi finals, so I didn’t really pay much attention to that matter.
"When he said he wanted to withdraw, I told him to handle it himself.
“He said he was injured. But from what I saw, I didn’t see any injury. If someone is injured, usually you can see it, maybe a problem with the leg or something. But I didn’t see any injury. That’s all,” said Herry.
Herry also stressed that if players are unwilling to follow his guidance, he does not want to waste time as there are many other men’s doubles pairs who require his attention.
“As coaches, we can only help. If the players don’t want it, what else can we do? If we have already said many things but the players still don’t want to follow, then that’s it.
“As a coach, I will focus on the players who want to train and those who want to compete in tournaments. Those are the players I will focus on,” he added.
Earlier, apart from Hon Jian-Haikal, other men’s doubles pairs who also withdrew from the Swiss Open this week were Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani, Teo Ee Yi-Ong Yew Sin, as well as Chia Weijie-Lwi Sheng Hao.
