Olympic silver medalist Mathias Boe of Denmark will coach the Indian men’s doubles pair- Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy ahead of Tokyo Olympics.
This decision to hire Boe as the coach was taken by the Sports Authority of India’s (SAI) Mission Olympic Cell under Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) on Friday.
Upon request of Chirag and Satwik, Boe, a silver medalist at the 2012 London Olympics had been roped in. Currently, Chirag and Satwik rank ninth among the 16 pairs eligible teams for Tokyo Olympics.
During his tenure, Boe will also help other doubles team under TOPS including the mixed doubles pair of Satwik and Ashwini Ponnappa and women’s doubles pair of Ashwini and Sikki Reddy.
“BAI welcomes Olympic medallist Mathias Boe as a coach for the Indian doubles team. He has been a champion player and has mentored several Danish shuttlers during his playing time,” said Ajay Singhania, Secretary, Badminton Association of India.
Apart from being a silver medalist in singles, Boe has also had significant doubles career wherein he won the All-England Championships twice in 2011 and 2015 and was a silver medalist at the World Championships in 2013.
The idea to appoint Boe as a coach was suggested by Chirag, who teamed up with him in some past events and trained with him in Mumbai when the Badminton Tour was suspended.
Chirag and Satwik had their breakthrough season in 2019 as they won the Thailand Open Super 500 and were runner-up at the French Open 750. The duo also made their maiden semi-final appearance at Toyota Thailand Open Super 1000 event last week.