Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia’s new national mixed doubles coach – Nova Widianto believed he could help Malaysian mixed doubles players to reach a new height, including in their mission to hunt for gold medals in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Widianto, 45, told Malaysian media at the Malaysian Badminton Academy (ABM) that with the quality of Malaysia’s current line-up of mixed players, he only needed to give them some ‘magical’ touches to help them achieve better results.
“Maybe our mixed doubles squad might seem to underperform a little bit. But keep in mind that Malaysia won the silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics through Chan Peng Soon/Goh Liu Ying. So, we need to train a little harder to reach gold,” said Widianto.
“Before this, the Malaysian team was perhaps due to the lack of a strong track record in big tournaments. However, we now have won the men’s doubles world champions and this will definitely inspire and increase the confidence of other players,” added Widianto.
Part of the key performance indicators (KPI) set for Widianto was to help players from ABM qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The ABM Doubles Coaching Director, Rexy Mainaky, said Widianto is aware that it is not an easy task but is ready to take on the challenge.
“I believe he already has an early idea of what needs to be improved because he had previously been in the same position with the Indonesian players,” said Mainaky.
Two ABM mixed doubles pairs – Chen Tang Jie/Toh Ee Wei and Hoo Pang Ron/Teoh Mei Xing are prospects of securing tickets to the Paris Olympics.
Nevertheless, these two pairs would need to compete with Malaysia’s two independent mixed doubles pairs – Tan Kiang Meng/Lai Pei Jing who reached their career best at World No. 5 last week, while Goh Soon Huat/Shevon Jemie Lai remained at World No. 9.
Each country is only allowed two representatives in the doubles event at the Olympic Games if both are in the top eight at the end of the qualifying round.
Prior to his new job at ABM, Widianto was the mixed doubles head coach for the Badminton Association of Indonesia (PBSI). He also succeeded in transforming two young Indonesian mixed doubles pairs, Rinov Rivaldy/Pitha Haningtyas Mentari (World No. 11) and Rehal Naufal/Lisa Ayu Kusumawati (World No. 16) to become elite mixed doubles pairs in the world.
As a player, Widianto had twice emerged as the mixed doubles world champion with his partner Liliyana Natsir in the 2005 and 2007 World Championships and they also won the silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
