Battling arthritis, star shuttler Saina Nehwal contemplating at retirement
The 34-year-old former world No.1, who was the first Indian shuttler to win an Olympic medal, participated in three editions of the Games before being hampered by injuries.
India’s doubles badminton coach Mathias Boe has announced that he will be stepping away from coaching ‘for now at least’.
The Dane’s announcement follows the Indian pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy’s exit from the Paris 2024 Olympics men’s doubles competition.
Boe, a former world No. 1 and men’s doubles silver medallist from London 2012, said his coaching days end here, and he won’t be continuing in India or anywhere else, ‘for now at least’.
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“I know the feeling all too well myself. Pushing yourself to the limit everyday, to be in the best shape of your life, and then things don’t go as you would have hoped for. I know you guys are gutted, I know how much you wanted to bring a medal back to India, but this time it wasn’t meant to be,” Boe captioned an image of himself with Chirag and Satwik on his social media handle.
“For me, my coaching days end here, I’m not going to continue in India or anywhere else, for now at least. I have spent too much time in a badminton hall and it’s also pretty stressful to be a coach, I’m a tired old man,” added the 43-year-old.
He also thanked everyone for their support and signed off with a Jai Hind.
Boe had also coached Indian doubles teams, including Chirag and Satwik, at Tokyo 2020, before being released by the Badminton Association of India (BAI). However, he was reappointed in his role after BAI failed to secure the services of Malaysia’s Tan Kim Her as the new coach.
Boe’s second stint with the Indian team was immensely fruitful, particularly for Satwik-Chirag. The Indian duo won a bronze medal at the 2022 world championships and a gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
In 2023, SatChi became the Asian Games champions and won the Asian Championships gold before becoming the first Indian badminton doubles team to rise to the top of the world rankings.
The Indian doubles aces also won several top-tier BWF World Tour tournaments, including the Super 1000 Indonesia Open in 2023, under Boe, who’s married to Bollywood actor Taapsee Pannu.
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