With Olympics in mind, Srikanth hires Indonesian coach

The qualification period for the 2024 Olympics began from May 1 and Srikanth, who has been struggling with form, has availed the services of Wiempie Mahardi to help him train

New Delhi: Keeping the Paris Olympics in mind, star Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth has hired an Indonesian coach to help him ramp up his game in the run-up to next year’s showpiece.

The qualification period for the 2024 Olympics began from May 1 and Srikanth, who has been struggling with form, has availed the services of Wiempie Mahardi to help him train. “I have been trying to get a coach since December 2021, when Agus left. Now I have an Indonesian coach Wiempie Nahardi. I met him when I went to Indonesia to train for three weeks. He came to India in last week of April,” former world number one Srikanth said.

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India are yet to appoint a foreign coach for men’s singles players since the abrupt departure of Indonesia’s Agus Dwi Santoso in December 2021. After PV Sindhu parted ways with Park Tae Sang in February, the Korean has been helping out the men’s singles players. “I was trying to get a coach through TOPS but somehow, it didn’t work out. In January, I had sent SAI the proposal and since then it has been on hold. Since the Olympic qualification period was also starting in May, I couldn’t hold any longer, so I decided to do it myself,” Srikanth said.

A former world top 25 player, Mahardi has more than 10 years of coaching experience, having trained players in different clubs across countries. Srikanth achieved unprecedented success in 2017 when Indonesian coach Mulyo Handoyo had taken over the training responsibilities. The Indian went on to win four titles that season.

Another Indonesian coach, Agus Dwi Santoso, had an impact on him when he joined the Indian set-up in 2020. “I don’t think it (a personal coach) will work for everyone but it worked for me in the past. When Mulyo was there, I did really well, and Agus was there I did well. So this Indonesian style works for me, that’s why I needed a coach.

“It is not easy to play without a coach, I mean that is the minimum requirement for a player,” said the player. However, Srikanth didn’t get the time to train with his new coach as he participated in the selection trials for the Asian Games. He finished at the top with six wins in as many matches to qualify for the individual events.

“I couldn’t really train with him because after I came back from Asia Badminton championships, I didn’t have any time. I had just two days before the trials and two days after the trials. After the upcoming Asian events, I hope to get some time to train with him.”