Flandy Limpele, head coach of the men’s doubles discipline in Malaysia, said he learned a valuable lesson while accompanying his players to a tournament for the first time and admitted that they can get much better.
Through The Star, Limpele said, “This is the first time that I’ve followed my players to a tournament. To be fair, it is also the players first few tournaments after nine months. I need more time to give a full assessment.”
Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzuddin lost in the quarter-finals of the Yonex Thailand Open and in the first round of the Toyota Thailand Open.
World No. 9 Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik did not pass the round of 32 at the Yonex Thailand Open but were runners-up at the Toyota Thailand Open. They did not make it out of the group stage of the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals.
Based on the results of the three tournaments, Limpele believes that skill is not an obstacle for Chia and Soh, “It’s non-technical. I think they still lack self-belief and are unable to handle it well and that prevents them from showing their full potential.”
He added that Chia and Soh’s performance was unstable due to the lack of tournaments in the past nine months and that they were slow to adapt to matches.
“Fortunately, I have noticed some of their weaknesses here in Bangkok and we will fix it,” said Flandy.
He said he would provide a better evaluation after the players participate in the Swiss Open, German Open and All England which start in March. He believes that his players can go a long way and hopes that they can overcome their respective weaknesses.
