Kidambi Srikanth hires Wiempie Mahardi as personal coach ahead of Paris Olympics 2024

New Delhi [India], May 12 : Indian badminton player Kidambi Srikanth, who has been struggling to find his form of late, has roped in Indonesia's Wiempie Mahardi as a personal coach as he sets his eye on the Paris 2024 Olympics.

The Indian men's singles badminton team is currently without a full-time foreign coach. In November 2021, Agus Dwi Santoso left his role as Indian men's singles coach and since then the Indian Badminton team has been without a full-time foreign coach.

As the qualification period for the Paris 2024 Olympics which will last from May 1 2023 to 28 April 2024, Srikanth has opted to go for a personal coach.

Srikanth, a former world No. 1, has always performed exceptionally well in tournaments whenever he has the backing of an Indonesian coach.

He became the first Indian men's singles player to reach the final of the world championships in 2021 after training under the Indonesian coach Agus Dwi Santoso.

In 2017, Srikanth won four BWF titles in a single season. That success too came under an Indonesian coach Mulyo Handoyo.

Though Srikanth hasn't had the best of seasons in 2023 so far, he topped the Badminton Association of India's selection trials for the Asian Games with a streak of six wins to qualify for the men's singles event.

Next up for Srikanth, currently world No. 22 in badminton rankings, is the Sudirman Cup, a mixed-team championship event, beginning in Suzhou, China on May 14. India have been pooled with Malaysia, Chinese Taipei and Australia in Group C.

As Srikanth sets his focus on qualification for Paris Olympics 2024, he will be keen to leave his mark in the competitions of which the results will be taken into account. The competitions which will be included are as follows:

1) Thomas & Uber Cup

2) Sudirman Cup

3) World Championships

4) Grade 2 BWF tour tournaments - Levels 1 to 6

5) Grade 3 BWF Continental tour tournaments - International Challenge, International Series & Future Series

6) Continental Championships (individual and team)

7) Continental Multi sports games - Pan American Games, European Games, and African Games (if sanctioned during the qualification period)

Any other international event sanctioned by BWF and included in advance and with BWF approval as being part of the World Ranking Lists.