Tan Kim Her returns as India’s badminton doubles coach
The appointment of Malaysian Ace Tan Kim Her as India’s doubles badminton coach has been approved for a five year period till the 2026 Asian Games by the Indian Sports Ministry.
Image credit: PA Images Sindhu Pusarla of India competes at Tokyo 2020The 50-year-old was earlier India’s doubles coach from 2015 to 2019. He will be returning for a second stint following the departure of Danish Coach Mathias Boe after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Return of Tam Kim Her
It was accounted for in December last year that Tam Kim Her is probably going to join the Indian coaching set-up with the Badminton Association of India awaiting approval from the Sports Association of India. During his first stint, Tan Kim Her played a fundamental role in the advancement of the Indian doubles team of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy. Under Tan's guidance, both of them made advancements in their game throughout his tenure. In the 2018 Commonwealth games, they won the gold medal in Doubles beside individual silvers.
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty are currently ranked World No, 8. Recently in a press release, Satwik said "Satwik and I are happy that Coach Tan will be back with us. We always look up to him as he paired us together despite our early hesitation because while we were similar, neither of us was confident of playing the front court,".
He trained the duo to reach the top 10 in the Badminton World Federation men's doubles ranking during his first stint. He also helped Ashwini Ponappa and Sikki Reddy rise to the top 20 ranks in the women's doubles ranking. The return of Tan Kim Her is a joint decision by the Sporting Association of India and the badminton association of India. The decision will help strengthen the Indian doubles squads and potentially help groom the next generation for the Indian double team.
Back after Resigining
Coach Tan Kim Her has also coached England, Malaysia and South Korea in the past. He resigned as the coach for India in 2019 with more than a year and a half left on his contract citing personal reasons. He later went to coach the Japanese team and helped them win the 2021 World Championships and get a bronze medal during the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Extra Responsibilities
Tan Kim Her will be returning with extra responsibilities besides just coaching the doubles team. This time, he will be responsible for identifying and training Indian coaches with the potential to help place a new revamped coaching system in place.