Coach Tan Kim Her's Blueprint For Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty: Cut Down Small Errors For Big Titles

"It's like you see nothing at first, and then suddenly you see the fruit growing." Tan Kim Her's voice was tinged with emotion as he reflected on the journey of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, the two men he paired and who fondly call him "Daddy". The affection is mutual and quite understandable. After all, Satwik and Chirag got their the first lessons together during Tan's first tenure as India's doubles badminton coach between 2015 to 2019. He is back in the saddle after incumbent Mathias Boe decided to quit coaching altogether following a disappointing Paris Olympics.

"It's always great to be back. India always gives me so many memories. When I first came here, I put all my effort into it, and the players were so dedicated and trusted me. Not just Satwik and Chirag, but all of them. I feel like it's my home," Tan reflected in an interview with PTI.

Back in 2015, when Tan first joined India's badminton camp, Satwik and Chirag were just budding talents. Over the years, with Tan's mentorship and later the guidance of Danish coach Mathias Boe, they grew into one of the most formidable pairs in world badminton.

"I have to give credit to Boe. He did a great job, and that's why they've been moving up," says Tan.

"But when you're at top, maintaining that position is not easy. You have to be very disciplined and committed." Stressing that his role is to help the duo aim higher, Tan said: "We need to plan which tournaments are most important. There's a tournament almost every month, so we can't focus on all of them.

"I told them, we can't aim to win every time, but we need to peak at the right time. The right time is the major tournaments we haven't won yet, like the All England, World Championship, Super Series