Malaysia: The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) has appointed the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games men’s doubles gold medalist, Rexy Mainaky as Deputy Director of Coaching, and Mainaky will report to duty on December 1, 2021.
However, the announcement published by BAM on Monday didn’t mention the length of Mainaky’s contract with BAM.
The statement below from BAM illustrated the role and responsibility of Mainaky when joining BAM at the end of 2021.
‘The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) is pleased to announce the appointment of Rexy Mainaky as Deputy Director of Coaching.
The former men’s doubles world champion and 1996 Olympic gold medalist will work closely with Director of Coaching, Wong Choong Hann. In this role, Rexy will add technical input into key performance areas. He will be specifically attached to the doubles’ departments with the national squad where he is officially tasked with overseeing and driving the performance of these athletes.
The 53-year-old doubles specialists will report for duty at the Akedemi Badminton Malaysia (ABM) in Bukit Kiara on 1 December 2021.
BAM President, Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Mohamad Norza Zakaria said: “We’re delighted that Rexy will be joining the coaching team.”
“This appointment is integral in reinforcing the progress that the Association has made in the last few years in our unwavering pursuit of success.”
“Rexy is a good and experienced coach with a stellar track record. He will be given specific KPIs to immediately revitalise and further motivate our young doubles departments. I look forward to the contribution that he will make in optimising the team’s performance together with Choong Hann and the rest of the coaching staff as we continue to build a stronger future for Malaysian badminton.”
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This will be Mainaky’s second coaching stint with BAM as he had previously served as BAM’s doubles coach from 2005-2012. His proudest achievement in Malaysia was to guide Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong to win gold in the 2006 Asian Games and to capture the 2007 All-England title.
After Malaysia, Rexy became a coach at Philippine Badminton Association, and in early 2013, Rexy accepted the technical and development chief position for the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI). His best achievement at PBSI was leading Indonesia to win the only gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics, through mixed doubles pair Liliyana Natsir/Tontowi Ahmad.
Currently, he is officially still Thailand’s badminton head coach, and he was the man behind Thai women’s success of beating badminton superpower China 3-2 in the 2018 Uber Cup semi-finals which was held in Bangkok.
Nevertheless, Mainaky’s appointment could potentially lead to confusion in terms of how he would work with BAM’s current men’s doubles coach, Flandi Limpele. Furthermore, Mainaky also has strong experience of running the highest governing body of Badminton for a country, therefore, it’s also interesting to see how the working relationship between him and Wong Choong Hann would play out in the future.
