Eng Hian's Cold Hands That Bear Olympic Gold For Greysia/Apriyani

Indonesian women's doubles coach, Eng Hian (center) with Greysia/Apriyani (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The success of the Indonesian women's doubles, Greysia Polii/Apriyani Rahayu, in winning the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics on Monday, cannot be separated from the great role of coach Eng Hian. His cold hands succeeded in uniting the two players of the age difference.

Long before the Tokyo Olympics, Greysia actually wanted to hang up her racket or retire after failing to bring home a medal from the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, Brazil, 2016.

At that time, Nitya Krishinda Maheswari, Greysia's partner, suffered a serious shoulder injury and had to undergo surgery. This made Greysia had time to think about ending her career. But Eng Hian forbids it and convinces Greysia to find the right new partner.

Eng Hian celebrates Greysia/Apriyani's victory at the Tokyo Olympics (Photo: Antara)

Until finally in 2017, Eng Hian chose Apriyani Rahayu as Greysia's partner. Their age difference is 10 years. After pairing up in 2017, Greysia/Apriyani's journey is certainly not easy. They went through a lot together to finally fit in.

On the other hand, Eng Hian continues to guide them. Eng Hian's patience and perseverance finally resulted in a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics after defeating Chinese women's doubles Chen Qing Chen / Jia Yi Fan with a score of 21-19, 21-15.

In fact, when PBSI was brought in 13 years ago, the coach who is familiarly called Didi was plotted to train potential women's doubles, not achievements like now.

At that time, Rionny Mainaky should have filled the women's doubles coach position. However, the Japanese badminton federation was reluctant to let it go. As a result, Eng Hian was appointed head of the Development and Achievement Division, Rexy Mainaky, to fill the position.

To be honest, Eng Hian was quite surprised to see the condition of the women's doubles sector at that time. He saw something was wrong. "There's a lot of screaming, but the soul isn't there," he said.

Eng Hian then made an overhaul and was optimistic that the women's doubles would excel in the future. Six years later, Eng Hian managed to bring Greysia/Nitya to the 2014 Asian Games gold.