OUTGOING national men’s doubles head coach Tan Bin Shen has fulfilled 60% of his personal goals since taking up the job in December 2020.
Bin Shen, who ends his service with the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) on Jan 13, said the 40% unfulfilled aspirations included his inability to guide 2022 world champions Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik to secure the Paris 2024 Olympic gold medal.
“Of course, when I joined BAM, I had many targets. One of them was at the 2024 Olympics, but the gold remains elusive.
“For me, the 2024 Olympics is among the most memorable because it was my first time there. I could feel that many people hoped the men’s doubles (Aaron-Wooi Yik) would win gold, but they only made it to the semi-finals,” he told reporters during a training session here today.
Aaron-Wooi Yik showed great fighting spirit, rallying back to retain their Olympic bronze medal by defeating Denmark’s Kim Astrup-Anders Skaarup Rasmussen 16-21, 22-20, 21-19.
Bin Shen also expressed satisfaction with the improvement shown by the country’s men’s doubles players under his guidance, including Muhammad Haikal Nazri and Wan Arif Wan Junaidi, who did well at several international tournaments.
The 40-year-old coach hopes his charges will give him a farewell gift by winning the Malaysian Open 2025, scheduled from Jan 7-12. This tournament will mark his final task before joining the Hong Kong national squad in February.
Regarding his new role in Hong Kong, Bin Shen said he has been offered a two-year contract to coach their doubles squad, which includes overseeing the women’s and mixed doubles.
“The Hong Kong squad is not very large, so all doubles categories will train together,” said Bin Shen, who will join two other Malaysian coaches in Hong Kong, Jeremy Gan and Loh Wei Sheng.
Bin Shen revealed that former Malaysian men’s singles player Wong Choong Hann, now the head coach of Hong Kong’s national squad, played a key role in recruiting him for his new job.
“A few months back, Choong Hann approached me during a tournament, but at that time, I wasn’t sure yet because I had to consider my family,” he said.
The former national player added that he has not yet planned to bring his family to Hong Kong and will head there alone for now.
