Tan Kim Her's mantra to bring Sat-Chi back on top

Last December, Tan Kim Her returned to India after five years to coach the pair he had formed a decade back. But soon he realised that he'd have to deal with off-court issues that had been plaguing Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty before getting to their game.

- Sandip Sikdar

Satwik and Chirag with coach Tan Kim Her.

(AJAY AGGARWAL/HT)

Post the Paris Olympics, the ace Indian combine played only one tournament in the last five months of 2024 — China Masters where they reached the semis. The reason was that both of them were hindered by physical struggles. “When I began, they had many injuries,” the Malaysian told HT.

Rankireddy’s shoulder has been a perennial problem, forcing the pair to pull out of multiple events. The Amalapuram born also developed issues in his lower back. Mumbai-born Shetty, on the other hand, developed spasmodic back pain which continued for months. “I realised something is not right because both of them were getting injured very easily. We had to completely reorganise their training schedule,” said Tan.

Tan sat them down, brought in the trainer, strength and conditioning coach and made Rankireddy and Shetty note down what they can and can’t do. He came up with a formula to manage their workload, schedule training and competitions accordingly so that they remain injury free.