Don’t worry. It’s all under control. BAM doubles coaching director Rexy Mainaky insisted that the national team’s preparations for the Thomas Cup Finals remain unaffected despite the untimely departure of reliable men’s doubles coach Flandy Limpele.
Rexy said he is not in a hurry to fill the void left by Flandy, who is set to join BA of Indonesia as their mixed doubles coach.
While admitting that losing a coach of Flandy’s calibre is a blow, Rexy has plenty of faith in the other doubles coaches under his charge.
“It’s a shame that Flandy had to leave after all the great work he has done for us,” said the Indonesian badminton legend yesterday.
“We do have plans to bring in a new coach, but at the moment we still haven’t found the right candidate yet.
“So for now, we will need to make do with the coaches that we have to get our players ready for the Thomas Cup.
“If there is a need, we can always look into reassigning the roles of the coaches on a temporary basis.
“But I will need to speak to Datuk Kenny (Goh, Coaching and Training committee chairman) beforehand.”
Following Flandy’s exit, Rexy’s department is left with Tan Bin Shen as the only designated men’s doubles coach.
Though Rexy, a former Olympic and world champion himself, can double up as coach, it may still not be sufficient as the men’s doubles squad are the biggest among the five in the national setup with 16 players.
While the focus is expected to shift to preparing their top two pairs — world No 8 Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik and No 16 Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani — for the Thomas Cup Finals, BAM just can’t afford to neglect the development of other pairs.
Independent duo Ong Yew Sin-Teo Ee Yi, who are world No 11, are expected to be called up as the third pair.
The others in the squad are Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun, Haikal Nazri-Wan Arif Wan Junaidi, Loo Bing Kun-Lwi Sheng Hao, Chang Yee Jun-Yap Roy King, Nurfirdaus Azman-Jimmy Wong and Low Hang Yee-Chia Wei Jie.
It seems Rexy won’t be short of coaching options as there are Paulus Firman and Hoon Thien How to call on.
The duo had previously handled the men’s doubles squad together prior to being reassigned to the mixed doubles and women’s doubles squads in mid-2020.