13 countries to join Thamrin-Samsung Cup
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A total of 372 players from 13 countries are confirmed to take part in the 2003 Thamrin-Samsung Cup, which will be upgraded to a Group 4-level international tennis tournament from last year's Group 5.
The event, which falls into the under-18, under-16, under-14 and under-12 categories, will run from June 23 to June 29 at tennis courts at the Hilton Executive and the Bung Karno sports complex, both in Central Jakarta.
As host, Indonesia has the bulk of the participants with 301 players. The participants from 12 visiting countries will all compete in the under-18 category.
"This is a good opportunity for local players to try to win points in order to increase their ITF (International Tennis Federation) rankings," Benny Mailili, the tournament director, said in a media conference here on Thursday.
According to the list, the copies of which were made available to the media, Japan will send 14 players, followed by Singapore with five and Thailand four.
India, Hong Kong, South Korea and Vietnam have three players each. Ukraine will send two players, while Australia, China Taipei, Malaysia and Russia will participate with one player each.
Indonesia dominates the seedings with its girl' players taking the top five places led by 2002 third-placed Maya Rosa, who is No. 93 in the ITF junior.
Sandy Gumulya (ITF's 122), 2002 winner Septi Mende (ITF's 154), Denise Harjanto (ITF's 257) and Ayu Fani Damayanti (ITF's 285) are seeded from second to fifth.
Elbert Sie (ITF's 371) and Imanuel Prakoso (ITF's 420) are top and second boys' seeds, followed by Indian duo Ansumen Dutta (ITF's 450) and Sumit Prakash Gupta (ITF's 453). Ayrton Wibowo (ITF's 477), also from Indonesia, is fifth.
The 2002 champion Kim Sun-yong of South Korea will not defend his title because he is over 18 years of age.
Indonesia's number one Sunu Wahyu Trijati, who garnered a victory for Indonesia at the Junior Davis Cup of the Asia-Oceania group, here last month, is not playing as he is on an Italian tour.
The 2003 edition, which will be sponsored by Samsung Electronics Indonesia (SEIN), has been upgraded from Group 5 to Group 4.