[size=+2]China’s Tang retires from coaching[/size] staronline PETALING JAYA: China's Tang Hsienhu, dubbed the coach with the “Midas touch†has decided to retire from active coaching. The China BA said that the Indonesia-born Hsienhu, 62, would take up the role of consultant for their national badminton set-up. Among the current Chinese players who were groomed by Hsienhu during his tenure as the singles coach from 1998-2002, were men's singles world champion Lin Dan and Bao Chunlai. He took charge of the Chinese doubles players after the Thomas Cup Finals in Guangzhou in 2002 and among the pairs who have emerged are Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng and Sang Yang-Zheng Bo. Hsienhu played for Indonesia from between 1961 and 1979. He turned to coaching in 1981 and switched camp between Indonesia and China a few times. He was with Indonesia (1981 and 1987-1998) and China (1982-1987 and 1998 until now).
no doubt a big loss from China. but with recent reports of Tang's deteriorating health, he has hinted that he would retire from badminton after the Olympics. let's hope Tang willl have more time to attend to his own health from now and hope he will recover soon and maybe come back to train the 2008 Olympics hopefuls. from this point on, we will have to wait and see how the Chinese MD will do without the magic of Tang. here is a picture of the legend Tang XinFu.
wow that might be the first time ive ever seen him smile. so many people hold this man in high regards especially the current US coach Ignatius, i remember he would tell me all these stories about TSF and how great his coaching tactics were and how much everyone improved when he was their coach.
That's an important news! I wonder how chinese MD will perform from now on... will they keep on progressing or will they disappear from the top again? It's funny to see that throughout his career, the dominant badminton nation was always the one he was coaching in (whether Indonesia or China) and each time faded away when he left...
actually, for a 62 yrs old man, i think he look very frail, especially for one who has led an active athlete's life. i would've believe you if you tell me he is 72 yrs old with that face.
I believe there are some inacuracies in the report from Star Online. From my knowledge Tang XianFu went to China in late 50's or early 60's - he was not 20 years old when he went to China. He stayed with the Chinese team as player and coach until 1987 when he agreed to coach the Indonesian team. In 1997 he returned to China and later sometime from 1998 he was coaching the China national team again. Kwun, one more reason to believe that high level sports is not good to your health. Seven, coincidence or not, it really when he left Indonesia level went downwards. Not only men but also women. He was coaching the women's doubles when he left Indonesia. At that time the Indonesian LD still gave some fight against the top teams. Will see how China will develop after Tang's retirement. China should make a bigger effort to keep/entice the former players to coach the national team.
Yes and China was really down the hill during the early nineties... (while Tang was in Indonesia) I don't think all this is just a coincidence...
ITs true Tang Master is going to stop coaching.. however you can still see him doing coaching in China.. but not as often... just that this time you wont see him going with the China team on international competitions.
that picture shown .. was it taken recently??? if it's true, then i think he looks younger than he is 62. not like what you said.. he's got a nice smile.
Well, I think the retirement of Wang Wenjiao, Hou Jiachang and Chen Fushou (ladies coach) and the migration of recently (80's) retired players (ex Han Aiping, Chen Changjie, Zhang Ailing, Liang Chiauxia. etc), in my opinion contributed to China decline.
also Li Mao and Li Lingwei as well. it is hard to find a good talented player, i think it is even harder to find a good coach.
Yes sure there are also other reasons than just Tang not coaching in China! We just can't deny that wherever he went, that country was at the top while he was there... and wasn't while he wasn't there! (of course, there is a part of coincidence but not only...)
could be that whenever he switched, he would bring with him vital insight of "country / player weaknesses". What I mean is that he would say to the Chinese who has which weakness and when he went to Indo, he would reveal chinese player's downsides? This would explain the balance tipping either way in sync
To me, Tang was probably the biggest responsible for raising China men's badminton level again in late 90's. While he was away and others retired (more specifically Wang Wenjiao and Hou Jiachang) China level went down a bit. Upon his return China's mens singles and doubles became stronger. I strongly believe this has something with the way how he sees the game and selecting its best interpreters.
During the 80's, Tang was China ladies team coach. He of course knew the mens players but not necessarily in great detail. In Indonesia he coached mainly the men singles initially. After Indonesia men singles won gold and silver medals in Barcelona Olympics he worked with Indonesia ladies doubles until his return to China in 1997. And as you, besides Indonesia there are also strong players from Denmark, Malaysia, Korea, etc. Don't think your theory explain the tipping of the balance...
i agree. these information cant do much good without a coach's ability to mold players into world beater anyway. IMHO tricks and player weakness tips before games only worth max 3 points in a game (3/30 points). just a thought. cheers
