FORMER Olympic gold medallist Rexy Mainaky is loving every minute of his high-profile job as Indonesia’s high performance director.
Rexy left Malaysia last year after serving for seven years. But not before pushing for the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) to name a chief coach or a high performance director to chart the country’s badminton fortunes.
It did not work out for him in Malaysia but at least Rexy is glad that he’s got the chance to do it the right way for Indonesia.
As the new supremo, Rexy is ready to revive the flagging fortunes of Indonesian badminton.
The ever jovial and friendly Rexy officially started work last month – almost a year after leaving the BAM in February last year and trying his luck with the Philippines for a while.
And he said it was good to get back to his roots.
“I’ve coached in England, Malaysia and the Philippines (briefly). After experiencing 13 wonderful years working aboard, it was time for me to return home,” said Rexy, who is here with the Indonesian team for the Sudirman Cup, which will begin on Sunday at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil.
“I was called to help restore Indonesia’s status as one of the most successful badminton nations in the world and I felt it was time for me to give something back to my country. As an Olympic medallist, the management felt that the shuttlers will respect me and I’ll be able to empower them.
“As a performance director, I can put things in place. Like Malaysia, Indonesia also has talented players but something’s gone missing. We want to develop players with potential into world-beaters in the right way.
“As the main man, I can see the big picture and oversee the running of the whole training programme. I’m able to delegate the tasks at different levels of coaching and training of the players and monitor their progress,” he said.
“If there’s something wrong, I’m able to spot it and also prevent the overlapping of roles.
“As the performance director, I’m also able to conduct selection in a fair manner. I’m able to question the coaches if I think the selection of a player is not justified. My experience will surely help.
“I have laid out both the short and long-term plans and am confident that Indonesia will rise up again.”
Indonesia will be taking part in the Sudirman Cup without two key players – Sony Dwi Kuncoro and Simon Santoso – but Rexy is not too perturbed.
“It’s time to give the younger players a chance to prove themselves. I believe that Tommy Sugiarto and Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka are just as capable. They just need the opportunity and platform to establish themselves,” he said.
“Sony and Simon are still part of the national team but we are opening up. We are working in partnership with our junior programme so that everything will be in tandem with the vision of the national team.”
At the 2012 London Olympic Games, Indonesia suffered their worst outing when they failed to win any medals. It was the first time that they returned empty-handed since badminton made its debut as an Olympic sport in Barcelona in 1992.
