The Coach's Advice For Apriyani Rahayu After Appearing Stunning At The 2021 SEA Games With Siti Fadia: Hold Emotions, Put Ego Aside

Apriyani Rahayu/Siti Fadia pair presented a gold medal for Indonesia at the 2021 SEA Games. (Photo: Twitter @INABadminton)

JAKARTA - The pair Apriyani Rahayu/Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti looked stunning at the 2021 SEA Games. Coming without a medal target, they both took gold and silver medals.

This achievement is clearly beyond expectations. Understandably, the two were newly paired and the SEA Games became their first official competition. The result is quite extraordinary.

The Indonesian women's doubles coach, Eng Hian, assessed that there is still homework to be done after the 2021 SEA Games. Among them are improving the game patterns and communication between the two players, especially on the field.

In addition, Apriyani, who is actually more senior than Siti Fadia, was asked to hold back her emotions and put aside her ego.

"Especially when on the field, what I emphasize more to Apri is to hold back emotions and ego. We can see Fadia's level is below Apri," said Eng Hian, as reported by Antara.

"Apri can't force her (Fadia) to be like Greysia Polii or to be like her. She has to contain her emotions and ego, and good communication with Fadia is more or less what," he continued.

Even so, Eng Hian saw that he emphasized that the player from Konawe, Southeast Sulawesi, was able to protect his teammates on the field, and even always tried to help his partner not to feel tense when competing.

The coach, who is familiarly called Koh Didi, also hopes that Apri/Fadia can be more compact and coherent in every tournament that will be followed in the future. He targets his team to take part in six to seven tournaments this year to get a world ranking position.

"Thank God they were able to overcome (the challenges), and we can see that Apri's figure can bring Fadia to overcome nervousness and tension. Apri can guide her," he said.

"There is still half a year to catch up with the rankings and shape their game pattern," concluded Eng Hian.