KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s men’s doubles head coach, Herry Iman Pierngadi, is taking a measured approach as he steps into his new role, making it clear that, for now, he has no plans to shake up the current pairings.
Officially beginning his tenure at Akademi Badminton Malaysia (ABM) in Bukit Kiara today, the seasoned coach emphasised that he needs time to assess his players before making any bold decisions regarding the men’s doubles lineup.
“If their performance doesn’t meet expectations, we’ll consider changes. But for now, I haven’t thought about switching up the pairs,” said Herry, Bernama reported.
He acknowledged that players may perform differently in training compared to actual competitions, so he intends to observe their tournament performances before making any calls.
“I’ll observe the performances in the tournaments first. I can’t put a timeline on it just yet,” he added after overseeing a team training session.
The 62-year-old coach, affectionately known as ‘Herry IP,’ also has no plans to change the current training programme and acknowledged that he would need time before making any necessary transformations.
“I have to adapt first, then gradually, we will make small changes, but not total changes,” he said, reminding the players to always enjoy their training sessions.
The Indonesian coaching legend also expressed hopes of helping former World Champions Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik to become more consistent after their semi-final defeats in the 2025 India Open and 2025 Indonesia Masters
He also praised the 2025 Indonesia Masters champions, Man Wei Chong-Tee Kai Wun, and is optimistic that the 12th-ranked pair in the world will win more titles in the future based on their current form.
Asked whether he was interested in organising training sessions with other professional pairings, such as Goh Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin Rumsani, Herry left that decision to ABM coaching director, Rexy Mainaky, and the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM).
Since leaving BAM last August, Sze Fei-Nur Izzuddin have shown excellent form, winning the 2024 China Open, finishing as runners-up in the 2024 World Tour Finals, and claiming the 2025 India Open title, making them the second-best men’s doubles pair in the world.
Herry, who BAM has offered a four-year contract, is a high-profile coach known for his magic touch in forming world-class men’s doubles teams in Indonesia, including producing Olympic gold medallists Candra Wijaya-Tony Gunawan (Sydney 2000) and Hendra Setiawan-Markis Kido (Beijing 2008).
This is his first time expanding his career overseas after dedicating 31 years to coaching the Indonesian national badminton team. — February 1, 2025