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RI welcomes new women’s singles head coach
Rionny Mainaky (Courtesy of PBSI)After spending several years grooming the Japanese badminton team, Rionny Mainaky has returned to Indonesia with a new job as the head coach of the country’s women’s singles division
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Rionny Mainaky (Courtesy of PBSI)
After spending several years grooming the Japanese badminton team, Rionny Mainaky has returned to Indonesia with a new job as the head coach of the country’s women’s singles division.
He faces a tough task improving the only division in the Indonesian national squad with no shuttler in the world top-10 ranking.
The Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI) announced on Friday that it had appointed Rionny to take the helm of the country’s women’s singles, answering increased speculation as to who was going to fill the position that had lain empty since 2017.
In 2017, PBSI head of development and achievement Susy Susanti promised she would announce the head coach of the women’s singles after appointing Minarti Timur as the assistant coach for the squad. Planning to reveal the name after the 2017 All England tournament, she held back, leaving the position empty for the rest of the year.
Minarti was then appointed as acting head coach in 2018 after her accomplishment of cheering the squad with Gregoria Mariska Tunjung’s success in winning the 2017 World Junior Championship.
The speculation regarding the head coach was back on the radar as earlier this year the association said that it would announce the name in March after the All England tournament, a statement that repeated 2017’s circumstances.
The association fulfilled its promise as it named Rionny to lead the division with Minarti as assistant coach, while Herli Djaenudin, who previously assisted Minarti in coaching the senior team, is responsible for the junior squad.
Rionny was appointed after much consideration, said Susy, adding that she had been looking for the right candidate since last year. During the selection, many names were proposed for the job.
“It was quite a challenge [to find the right coach]. When it comes to a training program, we can’t just rely on chemistry but also their [the candidates’] plans, our needs and their experiences in achieving results,” she added.
She went on to say that Rionny’s experience in managing the Japanese badminton team was taken into consideration.
“We can’t ignore the strength of the Japanese women’s singles players, and we want our players to be like them,” said Susy.
Japan had world number three Nozomi Okuhara and world number four Akane Yamaguchi in the Badminton World Federation rankings as of Tuesday.
Commenting on Rionny’s appointment, former women’s singles player Yuni Kartika told The Jakarta Post that the new head coach had a reputation for taking good care of the Japanese players.
Such an advantage would be useful for Indonesian players, said Yuni, as she thought Rionny would set a suitable training program for world No. 15 Gregoria Mariska Tunjung and world No. 30 Fitriani — the country’s best — as well as the rest in the division’s squad.
“[Rionny] will teach [our shuttlers] about the Japanese players’ work ethic and fighting spirit,” she added.
Badminton observer Broto Happy echoed Yuni’s sentiment, saying that the new head coach would bring fresh air to the country’s women singles shuttlers.
“[I] can say that [Rionny] was successful in managing the Japanese team,” he said.
“He has a strong character and is very disciplined, and I see that Japanese players have a strong fighting spirit after he handled them.
“We hope [that quality] can be transferred to our players,” he said, adding that, regardless, Rionny should not be burdened with high expectation in too short a time.
