Jakarta: “Kevin said he doesn’t want to train with me. If you don’t feel right, then you don’t have to train with me,” said Herry Iman Pierngadi, the legendary men’s doubles coach of the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI).
Indonesia’s top men’s doubles pair Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo/Marcus Fernaldi Gideon who ended their reign last Tuesday of most weeks spent at men’s doubles World No. 1 with a total of 226 weeks, could see their partnership come to an end very soon if Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo couldn’t resolve his conflict constructively with Pierngadi.
“It’s not me, Kevin doesn’t want to train with me. It’s better to ask Kevin,” added Pierngadi in response to Sukamuljo’s status with the Indonesian national team.
Pierngadi said he didn’t know why Sukamuljo was reluctant to train with him. He found out about this after the assistant men’s doubles coach Aryono Miranat informed him about the news after the 2022 Indonesia Open which took place from June 14 to June 19.
At the Indonesia Open, Sukamuljo/Gideon lost to Kang Min Hyuk/Seo Seung Jae of Korea 14-21, 12-21 in the second round.
“He continues to train with the national team, however, he only train with his friends and also with mixed doubles, but he didn’t train with the men’s doubles squad,” explained Pierngadi.
Nevertheless, Pierngadi said that Sukamuljo will still be paired with Gideon for upcoming tournaments even though the two were practicing separately.
“I don’t want to be bothered by this. I don’t want to be feeling disappointed. We still have Fajar Alfian/Rian Ardianto and other young pairs,” said Pierngadi.
“I have no problem with his behavior. In fact, I don’t think too much about it. Because we still have a lot of young pairs in the national team, I care a lot about those young pairs,” explained Pierngadi.
Pierngadi also emphasized that the Indonesian men’s doubles training is in good condition.
“Sinyo (Marcus Gideon) has no problem with us. Frankly, this is not a problem for us at all, I treat it as a normal incident,” concluded Pierngadi.
