Coaches Mulyo, Tan Kim Her to be back in India by year-end

Coach Siyadatullah, who has been courtside and has silently put in countless training hours with top shuttlers in their teenage and emerging years at Hyderabad, will be at hand, for India’s men’s singles bunch at the Badminton World Championships in Huelva, Spain.

But the 2022 season is likely to start with another familiar figure. Indonesian Mulyo Handoyo, who was a stern taskmaster in enforcing top-notch fitness levels which translated into high-ranking wins is likely to rejoin India by end-December.

“We’re still working things out. But a clearer picture should emerge in the next 10 days, and hopefully by end of the month, we should have the coaches in place here,” national coach Pullela Gopichand confirmed.

Malaysian doubles coach Tan Kim Her, who had worked with Indian combinations in the lead-up to their breakthroughs on the Tour and at last CWG and Asian Games in 2018, will also return to the India job. Steering the careers of Tour winners Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty in their transition years, he will be expected to guide the burgeoning bunch of young doubles specialists, coming through the junior ranks.

After singles coach Agus Dwi Santoso left in November, a month short of completing his contract, the Badminton Association of India had advertised for coaching vacancies on November 18. Top names, including some previous foreign coaches, applied subsequently.

“As a National Association we have the best interest of the players as well as the sport at heart, and our objective is to bring in coaches who are not only acclaimed but also understand our players. Currently we are in consultation with SAI to close the modalities,” said BAI secretary Ajay Singhania, ahead of signing off the crucial appointments.

The return of the two succesful foreign coaches will also be a rounding off of unfinished business from prior stints.