Kidambi Srikanth hires Indonesian coach with Olympics in mind

The qualification period for the 2024 Olympics in Paris began from May 1 and Srikanth, who has been struggling with form, has availed the services of Wiempie Mahardi to help him train.

Keeping the Paris Olympics in mind, star Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth has hired an Indonesian coach to help him ramp up his game in the run-up to next year's showpiece.

The qualification period for the 2024 Olympics began from May 1 and Srikanth, who has been struggling with form, has availed the services of Wiempie Mahardi to help him train.

"I have been trying to get a coach since December 2021, when Agus left. Now I have an Indonesian coach Wiempie Nahardi. I met him when I went to Indonesia to train for three weeks. He came to India in last week of April," former world number one Srikanth told PTI.

India are yet to appoint a foreign coach for men's singles players since the abrupt departure of Indonesia's Agus Dwi Santoso in December 2021. After PV Sindhu parted ways with Park Tae Sang in February, the Korean has been helping out the men's singles players.

"I was trying to get a coach through TOPS but somehow, it didn't work out. In January, I had sent SAI the proposal and since then it has been on hold. Since the Olympic qualification period was also starting in May, I couldn't hold any longer, so I decided to do it myself," Srikanth said.

A former world top 25 player, Mahardi has more than 10 years of coaching experience, having trained players in different clubs across countries.

Srikanth achieved unprecedented success in 2017 when Indonesian coach Mulyo Handoyo had taken over the training responsibilities. The Indian went on to win four titles that season. Another Indonesian coach, Agus Dwi Santoso, had an impact on him when he joined the Indian set-up in 2020.