India's doubles badminton coach Limpele steps down

New Delhi, March 8 (IANS) India's doubles badminton coach Flandy Limpele of Indonesia quit from his post on Sunday owing to family reasons, a statement from Badminton Association of India (BAI) said."Owing to family reasons, Indian Doubles Coach, Flandy Limpele has decided to move on and has resigned from his current position...," the statement said. "Limpele has flown back home yesterday (March 7)". 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, the statement added.Meanwhile, Agus Dwi Santoso, an experienced Indonesian coach, who was appointed to assist India's singles badminton players from next month as they prepare for the Tokyo Olympics, will arrive in India on March 10 and will resume duty from March 11 in Hyderabad, the statement said.Indian shuttlers, including H.S. Prannoy and world no 10 men's pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, have pulled out from next week's All England Championships due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus outbreak. Saina Nehwal, P.V. Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy and Pranaav Jerry Chopra are expected to take part in the prestigious All England Championships, which counts towards qualification for Tokyo 2020, begins on March 11.
--IANS dm/vd