Badminton Association of Thailand (BAT) saw a big change in its singles coaching department a couple of days back.
Agus D Santoso, coach in the singles discipline, went out from the BAT. The Indonesian coach was instrumental when Kantaphon Wangcharoen won a bronze medal at the BWF World Championships just last year.
His departure however is received with extreme mixed feelings in the Thai badminton community.
Kantaphon posted about Agus D Santoso’s resignation on his Instagram account: “You gave me a lesson that changed my life. It’s not about coach and player. You were always besides me through good times and bad. You taught me a lot, not only badminton, but also life. You never put pressure on me. You (staffs, officers from BAT) don’t know how much he tried hard for me. Me and my coach have been doing well for Thailand. I will not lick someone’s boots in order to succeed. I want to say thank you to him Thank you for everything. Thank you for your smile, even though you’re not happy at all.”
Bodin Isara spoke out on his social media too: “Staffs will never know how much players tried, how much players try hard for our country. Some people just work for their benefit. Keep going bro. Just do your best.”
Jane Piyatat, owner of Granular Badminton Academy, posted Agus’s pictures on his facebook and praised him: “We want you to know how much we appreciate your valuable contribution in making great success all these years. We take this opportunity to thank you and to wish you all the best for your future endeavour.”
There was a surprising comment on Pitayat’s facebook post from what seems to be Rexy Mainaky’s facebook account. Rexy Mainaky is the head coach of the Thailand Badminton National team and a fellow Indonesian to Agus D Santoso.
The comment from the ‘unverified facebook account’ of Rexy Mainaky reads as follows, “Sir Jane,please not to judge only see one side,if u want to blame please blame me,the way his go out from BAT also not professional and his work only for himself,his the person cannot teamwork. I know how his work,and is that true,he never trust others coaches. Even his assisten and how come his not respect me as head coach. So please don’t blame BAT. Thanks”
Regarding the situation, BAT said, “The reason why Agus went out from BAT are his contract had end (December 2019) and he want to resign. That’s why he went back to Indonesia.”
With the exit of Agus D Santoso, former world no. 4 Boonsak Ponsana will step in as the singles coach. Boonsak represented Thailand at the Olympics five times and is a thirteen-time winner of the All Thailand Badminton Championships (national championships).
Boonsak Ponsana is expected to bring more technique and knowledge to the players. Thai badminton fans are expecting to see good results from their players, especially at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
1 comment
Comments are closed.