India’s Asian Championships bronze-winning shuttler Anup Sridhar was on Monday roped in as a singles coach by the Singapore Badminton Association (SBA). However, South Korean Kim Ji-hyun will continue to be the head coach for SBA’s men’s and women’s teams.“We do not have a start date as it is dependent on the work visa approval, and we certainly want Anup to join us as soon as possible,” Prof David Tan, SBA’s Vice President (Business Development and Communications), said. “All I can say is that it is not a short-term contract, and all other terms are confidential,” he added.Tan also refuted media reports that the 41-year-old Sridhar, who has three international titles and a Commonwealth Games mixed team bronze to his credit, was going to be the men’s singles head coach. “SBA is indeed appointing Anup Sridhar to this role as singles coach, but this is not as men’s singles head coach as erroneously mentioned by the media in India, as well as by the commentator during the live telecast of the quarterfinals match between Loh Kean Yew and Viktor Axelsen in the India Open,” Tan said.SBA had advertised for the position of an additional singles coach. The required qualifications included a minimum of five years’ experience within a national badminton team structure with a primary focus on singles. Sridhar was captain of the Indian Thomas cup team in 2006 and 2008. He represented India at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and was the top-ranked Indian men’s singles player between 2005 and 2008.
