Malaysia keeps spreading the coaching wealth

Malaysia’s Lee Wan Wah is the latest coach reported to have taken an overseas assignment.  Malaysian daily The Star reported that the two-time Asian men’s doubles champion was bound for Japan, where he will begin coaching junior boys on April 1st.

Photos: Badmintonphoto

Japan has, of course, one of the most diverse roster of coaches among the badminton powers.  In fact, only one of six coaches of its national A team was born in Japan.  The most recent addition to their staff from overseas is another Malaysian, Jeremy Gan, who has been in charge of Japan’s mixed doubles athletes since late 2017 but he joined Ding Qiqing of China, Park Joo Bong and Choi Sang Beom of Korea, and Reony Mainaky from Indonesia.

Several Malaysians have, of course, been coaching overseas for many years.  Lee’s former partner Choong Tan Fook has been in Hong Kong since 2010 and Wong Tat Meng has been overseas for nearly as long, in Indonesia and Scotland before moving to Korea in January of this year.

One Malaysian with among the most overseas experience is being joined in another of the badminton world’s most diverse coaching line-up.  Tan Kim Her, who started his overseas career in Korea way back in 2005, later moved to England but has been in India since 2015.  In early February, The Times of India reported that Tan would be getting help coaching doubles players at the Pullela Gopichand Academy from former Olympic bronze medallist Flandy Limpele of Indonesia.

In the same article, TOI reported that the same academy would also be adding the services of two Korean singles coaches, Kim Ji Hyun and Park Tae Sang (pictured here with Ra Kyung Min).  Both Kim and Park became ‘free agents’ in November, when the Badminton Korea Association terminated all 7 of their national team coaches, only one of whom was re-hired.  A third, Indonesian Agus Dwi Santoso, had earlier been hired by the Badminton Association of Thailand.  One of the remaining three, Ra Kyung Min, was last seen watching her daughter in a national elementary school competition for the first time.

Nor is it only from Indonesia and Korea that help is coming this year for Indian badminton.  Also in early February, it was reported that Morten Frost of Denmark would be working as a consultant to the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy.  Frost has apparently been contracted for a 90-day consultancy which included talent-spotting at the recently-concluded Indian National Championships.