Tan Kian Meng says his return to Malaysia is solely for England’s training camp and is unrelated to BAM’s vacant mixed doubles head coach position.
FORMER national player Tan Kian Meng has stressed that his return to Malaysia has nothing to do with the vacancy for the national mixed doubles head coach position previously held by Nova Widianto.
Kian Meng, who is now England’s doubles squad lead coach, said he is in Malaysia solely to conduct a training camp for the England team at the Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM) here.
He said he remains under contract with England until 2028 and is committed to continuing his role in developing the country’s badminton squad.
“It has nothing to do with what’s happening in the national squad at the moment. I’m only here to bring my team (England).
“I still have a contract until 2028,” he said when asked whether the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) had offered him the national mixed doubles coaching position at the ABM here today.
Kian Meng said he is responsible for all three doubles disciplines — men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles — as England’s squad is relatively small.
Last month, BAM announced that Nova had ended his tenure as national mixed doubles head coach to return to Indonesia and that it was searching for a replacement.
Meanwhile, Kian Meng described the reshuffle of the national men’s doubles pairs by head coach Herry Iman Pierngadi as having produced positive results, following Aaron Chia and Aaron Tai’s runners-up finish at the Taiwan Open Super 300 tournament last Sunday.
“Perhaps they had been with their previous partners for a long time, so now they need a bit of renewal, and I think this change can bring something positive,” he said.