Appointment of specialist doubles coach great news for Indian badminton

India’s star doubles pair Jwala Gutta (L) and Ashwini Ponnappa

Indian badminton has been on a roll in recent years and no badminton fan ever doubts that. A string of upsets by our shuttlers in various international competitions over the years has enforced the country’s status as a badminton force – our players made it a habit of giving the likes of mighty China, Indonesia, Denmark, Malaysia, Korea and Japan a run for their money.

Yes, indeed we do agree that Indian badminton has been coming up in leaps and bounds, but we also conveniently forget that much of the success has come in men’s and women’s singles, not to undermine the exploits of Indian women doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa. Over the years, India’s doubles pairs have achieved success by their own dint of perseverance in recent years as they have operating sans a doubles coach for last two years coupled with lack of desired support from the Badminton Association of India (BAI).

Doubles – be it men’s doubles, women’s doubles or mixed doubles continues to be our weak link over the years and there has been a crying need to churn doubles talents, which can help India do well in major team events like Sudirman Cup, Thomas Cup, Uber Cup among others.

And the BAI seems to have realized that corrective measures ought to be put in place and in order to do that, they have roped in Malaysian Tan Kim Her as India’s doubles coach.

India have roped in a shrewd customer

Tan is known to be a shrewd doubles coach and his joining the national team will really help our doubles pairs to raise their performance bar and make India a more competitive outfit on the world stage.

It may be recalled that Indian women doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa have been for long asking for a specialized doubles coach ever since the country’s last doubles coach Indonesian Edwin Iriawan left in 2013. Tan Kim Her has inked the contract in New Delhi and is expected to join the national team by September-end. One hopes that the arrival of specialist doubles coach will spur more success in doubles, riding on Jwala Gutta-Ashwini Ponnappa’s recent Canadian Open triumph.