T

he chance to reunite with old friends was a major motivators for Rexy Mainaky to come home after years of coaching overseas.

Rexy, who won the men’s doubles gold at 1996 Atlanta Olympics with partner Ricky Subagdja, now heads the development division of the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI).

He said he finally accepted the offer and returned to Indonesia to help young shuttlers after discovering that the new PBSI board includes several of his “comrades in arms” from the golden era of Indonesian badminton in the 1990s

“Seeing many of my friends on the board, I thought, maybe it’s time for me to get back there and work together for the glory of Indonesian badminton,” Rexy said on Tuesday in his first meeting with the media since his appointment.

He was still tied to a two-year contract with the Philippines Badminton Association (PBA) when he accepted the offer by new PBSI chairman Gita Wirjawan.

His former partner Ricky has been appointed as media and public relations officer while 1992 Olympic gold medalist Susi Susanti is an expert on the staff of the development division.

Before taking charge in the Philippines, Rexy worked in England and Malaysia. During that time the Indonesian media was constantly querying him about his willingness to join the PBSI.

Rexy coached for the PBSI for a year after his retirement, but decided to pursue his coaching career on the international stage and became a coach for England in 2001.

He helped mixed doubles pair Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms to become Britain’s first badminton Olympic silver medalist in Athens in 2004.

After five years, he moved to Malaysia for a seven-year stint, during which he pushed Koo Kien Keat and Tan Boon Heong to win gold at the Asian Games in 2006 and become All England champions in 2007.

In mid 2012 he decided to take the offer from the Philippine Badminton Association (PBA) as coaching director under a two-year contract.

A week after being elected PBSI chairman late last year, Gita, who is also a trade minister, called Rexy personally and asked him to help out at the Cipayung training center.

According Ricky, the PBSI settled all the issues with the PBA.

Hopes are now pinned on Rexy to revive national badminton, which has been going through a very rough patch in the last few years.

Rexy, who referred to his homecoming as “the return of the prodigal son”, said that he actually did not have to make many changes to the training programs as they were already on the right track.

The recent achievements in winning three titles at the Australia Grand Prix Gold and one at the Osaka International Challenge may augur well for the future.

“Truthfully, the graphic of their achievements has started to go up and all of the champions at those tournaments are new faces. But we shall not be complacent about it,” said Rexy, who said he had every intention of outclassing China.