With little over four months to go for the Tokyo Olympics, Indonesia's Flandy Limpele has stepped down as India's doubles coach, citing family reasons.
Limpele, who was hired by the Badminton Association of India to replace Malaysia's Tan Kim Her last March, has played a crucial role in the Indian men's pair Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy's rise in the international circuit.
On Saturday, Limpele flew back home.
"I had spoken to Gopichand last Monday that I want to resign but I decided to stay back due to the All England and European tournaments but it turns out the players cancelled their trip for All England," Limpele told PTI.
"I feel doubles department is not as favourite as singles. It is unfortunate that it has less love than singles but having said that it is just one of the reasons. The main reason for my departure is personal.
"I wish all the best to the Indian team, they have good coaches."
Asked if attitude of the players was one of the reasons behind his departure, Limpele said: "No, nothing to do with attitude, the reason is personal."
"The doubles team is currently being trained in Hyderabad by a team of expert coaches - Namrih Suroto and Dwi Kristiawan (foreign coaches) along with Indian counterparts, Vijay Deep, Pradnya Gadre and Arun Vishnu alongside Chief National Coach, P Gopichand."
"We have Dwi (Kristiawan), who has been training us and now I guess Namrih too might help us. Lets see, how it goes. Can't help it now."
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