Saturday February 2, 2013

Iskandar’s recovery lifts gloom in Hendrawan’s back-up camp

KUALA LUMPUR: Things have not been going as planned for national men’s singles coach Hendrawan this year but it hasn’t shaken his faith in his charges.

In the last month alone, he lost the services of his top two back-up players.

First, Misbun Ramdan Misbun quit the national team to rejoin his father Misbun Sidek after winning two local titles – the Pahang Open and National GP Finals.

Then Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin hurt his leg after a motorcycle accident. Fortunately, the 21-year-old is now on the road to recovery after being out of action for more than two weeks.

And that has lifted the gloom in Hendrawan’s back-up camp.

“It has not been a good start to the year but we have addressed the problems and are tightening up our training programme,” said the former world champion.

“Chief coach Rashid Sidek, Tey Seu Bock and I have made some changes to our training structure. The schedule has been revised and both the back-up and seniors now train together three days a week.”

Those training under Hendrawan are Mohd Arif Abdul Latif, Iskandar, Goh Soon Huat, Nur Mohd Azriyn Ayub, Goh Giap Chin and Loh Wei Sheng. Arif was promoted to the senior team recently.

“I have six players under my care and they train with the seniors on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Training with the more experienced shuttlers will speed up the progress of the back-up players,” said Hendrawan.

Rashid and Seu Bock are in charge of Lee Chong Wei, Liew Daren and Chong Wei Feng.

Rashid also takes charge of two Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) shuttlers – Tan Kian Meng and Choong Yee Han, who are on a three-month probation.

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