Some Indian Players Have Bad Attitude: Specialist Badminton Coach

He did not name any player in particular but said the trend was why foreign coaches left the setup sooner.

The 45-year-old Flandy Limpele had joined the Indian setup in August earlier this year.

(Photo: Twitter/@ismanto_danie)

Flandy Limpele, the specialist badminton coach for Indian doubles players, has lambasted the attitude of top Indian shuttlers in the elite camp, saying it’s detrimental for the sport’s progress in the country.

The Indonesian, while speaking to website Indosport.com, cited the “bad attitude of a few players” as a major reason why previous coaches left the post before running out their contract.

“I could probably feel what the previous coaches felt, because this attitude thing is so unique in India. Plus it looks like foreign coaches ending their contracts faster is a common tradition, so it will be nothing new to me,” the website quoted him as saying.

Previously, foreign coaches such as Indonesian Mulyo Handoyo and Korean Kim Ji Hyun too had quit before their tenure came to an end. Handoyo and Kim were both specialist coaches for the singles categories with the latter present when PV Sindhu bagged the gold medal at the World Championships earlier this year.

“It could be that I will also experience things like coach Kim and Mulyo, there are already signs. It’s a tradition, so no one wants up to four-five years,” Limpele told The Indian Express.

“Some players are individualistic. There is lack of team work and they only care about individual self. In doubles, you can’t do that.”

Flandy Limpele, Specialist Doubles Coach to The Indian Express

At present, the prominent names in the doubles circuit include the likes of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, who had a stellar year, including becoming the first men’s pair to be ranked inside the top-10 in world rankings.

Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty had won their first Super 500 tournament in Thailand beating then world champions Li Jun Hui and Liu Yu Chen of China.

Limpele, however, stopped short of naming the shuttlers. “Some players in this camp have bad attitude, I don’t know why that happens. But I think maybe it’s been like that for a long time and it looks like this habit could turn into the culture in the camp,” he said.

“I’m trying to change (this culture) because it’s not good to have individualistic players in doubles. I want to slowly change this, hopefully it will work. But if it doesn’t and (this is) the way they want it, then no foreign coach will be willing to stay longer,” he added.

(With inputs from Indosport.com, The Indian Express)