Tan Kim Her has stepped down as India’s doubles badminton coach citing personal reasons. The 47-year-old Malaysian put in his papers a year and a half before his contract with the Badminton Association of India (BAI) was to end.
BAI secretary (events), Omar Rashid, told PTI : “Yes, Tan Kim Her has resigned as doubles coach. He had put down his papers about a month back. He had some family problems.”
Tan Kim Her has coached England, South Korea and Malaysia before, and there are speculations he may have received a lucrative offer of work from some other country. There wasn’t any truth to these speculations, clarified Rashid, but according to doubles player Chirag Shetty, Tan is set to join the Nippon Badminton Association, the governing body of badminton in Japan.
“Tan Kim Her left India yesterday and he he will be joining the Japan national team,” Chirag said.
‘Huge influence’
Tan has had a positive influence in Indian badminton. It was under him that Chirag and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy emerged as India’s premier men’s doubles pair. The Indian duo is currently ranked 20th in the world. The women’s pair of N. Sikki Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa has also done well under the Malaysian’s guidance. Together, they claimed bronze at the Commonwealth Games in 2018.
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“I came to know about his resignation a two-three weeks [ago]; he told us that he is leaving. It was a big news for us,” said Satwiksairaj, who is nursing a shoulder injury. “He had a huge influence on us. It is an Olympic year but thankfully a new coach is coming, so we need to talk to him and see how his game suit us. We will get to see a different kind of approach now. So some small things will change but it won’t make much difference because our game is mostly attacking and we just need someone to guide us,” he added.
The responsibility of guiding the doubles pairs now rests on two new doubles coaches — Flandy Limpele and Namrih Suroto. The two coaches from Indonesia have been hired by the BAI.
‘A setback’
According to Chirag, Limpele will see their game in a whole new light. “He is coming today. He has got great credentials and it might take some time to adjust to his method of training but I am hoping we will be benefited like we saw in the case of Mulyo Handoyo, who came and suddenly we won so many titles in 2017.”
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“Tan Kim Her leaving is a setback for us in a way as we have achieved a lot under him but with the new Indonesian coach coming in, I think it will help us as he will see our game in a new perspective. He is coming today. He has got great credentials and it might take some time to adjust to his method of training but I am hoping we will be benefited like we saw in the case of Mulyo Handoyo, who came and suddenly we won so many titles in 2017,” Chirag added.
BAI recently roped in two coaches from South Korea — Kim Ji Hyun and Park Tae Sang — to help the women’s singles and men’s singles players, and the Indian team is awaiting their arrival.
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