Park’s comments can drive Flandi to do better

PETALING JAYA: Incoming national men’s doubles head coach Flandi Limpele has been stunned by comments by South Korean legend Park Joo-bong that he is an untested coach.

The 46-year-old Indonesian said he found it hard to understand the comments, especially since he has never worked before with Joobong, the Japan national team supremo now.

Former Olympic champion Joobong, 55, had raised questions over Flandi’s appointment as the men’s doubles head coach, saying the Indonesian had a lot to prove in his first “real test” with Malaysia.

Joo-bong felt Flandi, who won a bronze with Eng Hian at the 2004 Athens Olympics, hasn’t really achieved anything as a coach.

According to Joo Bong, Flandi had not produced any player for the national team when he was with Japanese Badminton League side Hitachi, while in India, and he was merely continuing the good work by his predecessor Tan Kim Her for top men’s pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty, although the duo cracked the top 10 under his guidance.

In his defence, Flandi listed down his own credentials.

“It’s unfortunate that Joo-bong, who is regarded as a ‘master coach’ has made such a statement,” Flandi told Indonesia’s sports portal Indosport.

“For me, it’s sad that a coach can give such an assessment about a counterpart who works for another country.

“Moreover, we have never worked together in a same team. But it’s okay, I’ll take it constructively to spur me to perform my job even better.”

Flandi said the success of Satwiksairaj-Chirag was due to good teamwork.

“Sure, they were already in good hands of previous coaches, which made it possible for me to help them to break into the world’s top 10.

“When I first joined India on March 1, 2019, they were ranked No. 20 and Satwik was nursing an injury and did not pick up his racquet for more than three months.”

Flandi also dismissed Joo-bong’s claim that the Malaysia job will be his first real test, insisting that he had already proven himself when he was coaching the Japanese club.

“Malaysia will not be my first test. It was in Japan that I showed that I’m good enough to coach,” he stressed.

“My club were ranked the seventh before I entered, but when I left, they were among the top four sides.

“True, none of my men managed to make the Japanese national team, but that was not the target for my club and employer at that time.”

Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) are still working on Flandi’s arrangement to start work with the national team as the country’s borders are still closed.

He is not expected to join until early next month.