Reports | BAI bring in Agus Dwi Santoso to arrest slide of top Indian shuttlers

Reports | BAI bring in Agus Dwi Santoso to arrest slide of top Indian shuttlers

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Badminton Association of India have roped in experienced Indonesian coach Agus Dwi Santoso who will join the Indian camp soon to work with top singles players including PV Sindhu and Saina Nehwal. The former recently resigned as the singles coach of the Thailand and is likely to join next month.

Amidst gloomy times, Sports Authority of India has roped in legendary Indonesian coach Agus Dwi Santoso to assist India's singles badminton players from next month as they prepare for the Tokyo Olympics. Santoso is expected to come in after the unceremonious exit of South Korea’s Kim Ji Hyun, who left abruptly last September after guiding PV Sindhu to an unprecedented World Championships gold medal.

The move was invigorated after witnessing the dip in form of India’s top shuttlers PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikant, who have struggled immensely in recent times. After winning the world championship in August last year, Sindhu has struggled off late losing in the first and second rounds of international competitions. Saina and Srikanth have struggled to stay alive for the weekend action in a series of tournaments, putting their Olympics hopes in jeopardy.

“I am directed to refer to SAI’s letter, to convey the approval for appointment of Mr Agus Dwi Santoso as foreign coach (singles) in the sports discipline of badminton at the salary of USD 8000 p.m... for a period of up to Olympic 2020,” the Sports Ministry wrote in a letter to SAI as quoted by Times of India.

The move might seem desperate as the Tokyo Olympics are a few months away and each country is allowed two singles quota provided their ranking is inside top-16 within the cut-off date of April 28. Santoso began his international career with a stint with Vietnam. He, then, served as a singles coach in South Korea in 2016 before joining the Thailand national team in 2018.

He has been instrumental in honing the skills of world-class shuttlers such as Son Wan-ho and Sung Ji-hyun in South Korea and Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan. Santoso is also credited to have guided Hendrawan to an Olympic silver and world championship gold in 2000 and 2001.

“SAI has written to the Indonesian authorities to grant him visa for his employment as foreign coach in badminton. So he will get his working visa and he can start by second week of March. It is unlikely that he will be able to join the team for All England,” said Ajay Singhania as quoted by TOI.

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