The appointment of Flandy Limpele as the head coach of Malaysia’s men’s doubles has caught the eye of Japan’s head coach Park Joo Bong.Flandy replaced Paulus Firman who is currently the head coach of the mixed doubles department. Flandy will officially begin his tenure from June 15, 2020.

Park feels that Flandy’s ability as a coach has not been proven yet and that the real test will be the Malaysian team. Park pointed out that Flandy had coached Hitachi Club in Japan around 2011 but none of his doubles players from the club had entered Japan’s national team yet.

Quoting from The Star, Park commented, “Flandy was also in India with the men’s doubles team before but their top pair (Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty) had already made it to the top 10 before he arrived.

“I believe Malaysia’s Tan Kim Her was the man behind the rise of that Indian pair before Flandy arrived.”

Incidentally, Park is the one who hired Tan Kim Her immediately after the latter left the coaching squad of the Indian national team. However, Park also pointed out the positive things Flandy would bring to the table.

He said, “I know Flandy is a hard-working coach and he did his part to maintain the standard of the Indian doubles players. This kind of determination can take a coach far in his career.”

In a squad like the Malaysian team where discipline has been a major point of criticism in the past, Flandy might just be the person that the players need right now.

With the exit of Goh V Shem/Tan Wee Kiong last year and Ong Yew Sin/ Teo Ee Yi recently to become independent players, the only top men’s doubles pair that remains at the national academy are the world no. 9s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik. The two youngsters have failed to win any major titles in the last two years barring the 2019 SEA Games, despite high expectations from its management.

“Flandy’s job now is to make them (Chia/Soh) winners, that will be his real test,” added Park.

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