From Limpele to Mulyo: Why foreign badminton coaches are quitting Indian team before end of contract

Indonesian doubles coach Flandy Limpele on Saturday joined a growing list of foreign badminton coaches who have left jobs with the Indian team before the expiry of their contracts citing personal reasons.

The 46-year-old had hinted about an imminent departure a few months ago when he claimed that Indian players had a ‘bad attitude’ and that is one of the reasons for the foreign coaches to quit.

While almost all of them cited personal issues as reasons to quit abruptly, there have been enough murmurs about the coaches not being happy with the freedom they get and the response from the players.

Even in the past, coaches like Atik Jauhari, Edwin Iriawan have not stuck around the national team after their initial contracts.

We take the look at the foreign coaches who have quit in the last three years, the reasons behind the move and what they are doing now.

Mulyo Handoyo

The Indonesian singles coach was credited with the rise of the men’s singles stars in 2017 which saw Kidambi Srikanth win five Superseries titles and B Sai Praneeth winning the Singapore Open.

The coach, who had also mentored the legendary Taufik Hidayat in the past, brought a substantial change in the training system of the Indian singles players, focusing more on the endurance and longer sessions after joining in February 2017 on a three-year contract.

The top singles players took some time to get used to his training philosophy but once they did, they excelled.

He, however, sprung a surprise when he left after just nine months claiming that he needed to give more time to his family. A few months after his departure, his assistant Heriawan also quit the national camp and is currently coaching in a private academy in Bahadurgarh near New Delhi.

Handoyo was quick to take up the job of Singapore head coach where he has helped Loh Kean Yew break into the world top-40.

Loh also played in the Premier Badminton League this season and insisted that it was Handoyo who had convinced him to sign up for better exposure.

Tan Kim Her

Malaysian doubles coach Tan Kim Her was probably the longest serving foreign trainer in India since Hadi Sugiyanto and it looked like he was likely to deliver on his objective of helping India win a medal in paired events at the Tokyo Olympics.

He was responsible for teaming up Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty when both the players were reluctant to do so, explained them the nuances of playing doubles at the highest stage created a roadmap for their success.

But with the arrival of Limpele and Namrih Suroto in 2019, the Malaysian wanted a long term contract till 2024 as his first stint was to end after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The Badminton Association of India and Sports Authority of India were reluctant to grant him a longer contract and he decided to quit citing personal reasons and join the Japan national squad, who were looking for a replacement for Reony Mainaky.

Kim Ji Hyun

South Korean Kim Ji Hyun’s stint with Indian badminton lasted just six months and her decision to quit left Indian badminton with many unanswered questions.

When Kim joined the national camp as the women’s singles coach, Saina Nehwal refused to work with her and that allowed her to work exclusively to work with Sindhu.

And when Sindhu became the first Indian world champion, she was the first to thank Miss Kim for her efforts.

But things just went downhill after that. Kim suddenly went into a shell after returning from Basel, Switzerland, and news of her husband’s ill health started doing the rounds. She quit the job immediately after claiming that she needed to look after her husband and could not continue working in India.

However, a few months later she joined AP Badminton Club in Chinese Taipei and later created a flutter by calling Sindhu “heartless” in an interview to a Korean YouTube channel.

There have been contrasting stories doing the round in Indian badminton circles with Gopichand’s detractors claiming that Kim left because of the way the chief national coach treated her and did not give her any freedom to implement her ideas or gave her credit for Sindhu’s crowning glory.

On the other hand, Gopichand’s supporters point out that she was ill and did not even work with Sindhu a week before the world championship and the coach gave her all the freedom she wanted.

The truth is probably somewhere in between.

Flandy Limpele

Limpele was probably the only coach who gave prior warning of his impending departure when he blamed the players for their ‘bad attitude’ without naming anyone.

The Indonesian was a very hard taskmaster and friction between him and the players had started soon after his arrival as the senior players felt that he wasn’t willing to give them a benefit of doubt when they complained of pain or exhaustion.

He would keep pushing them harder as he felt that the players lacked strength and fitness.

Though Limpele and BAI insisted that the reason behind his abrupt exit was the health concerns of his wife, the Indonesian almost hinted that there was more to it than meets the eye.

“I had spoken to Gopichand last Monday that I want to resign but I decided to stay back due to the All England and European tournaments but it turns out the players cancelled their trip for All England,” Limpele was quoted as saying by PTI.

“I feel doubles department is not as favourite as singles. It is unfortunate that it has less love than singles but having said that it is just one of the reasons. The main reason for my departure is personal.

“I wish all the best to the Indian team, they have good coaches.”

It is a fact that the doubles coaches feel sidelined in the Indian set up which gives more weightage to singles. They have to work with the available talent at the camps and the exposure trips available to the doubles players are far less than for their singles counterparts.