25 countries to vie for tennis title

JAKARTA (JP): A total of 161 youths from 25 countries around the world will compete in the 2001 Gas Negara International Junior Championships in Kemayoran Tennis Center from March 4 to March 11.

The Indonesian Tennis Association (Pelti) official in charge of competition and tournaments, Soebronto Laras, told a media briefing on Wednesday that the participants comprised 105 boys and 56 girls.

However, Indonesian top girl's player Angelique Wijaya, currently 17 in the junior world rankings, and Dea Sumantri, world No. 50 in ITF junior rankings, will miss the championships due to overseas stints.

"The participants will include boy's player Jonathan Chu from the United States, who has the highest ITF junior singles rank of 74, and Maretha Van Niekerk of South Africa, currently ranking 62," Soebronto said.

He said other participants included Indonesia's top boy's player Eko Kurniawan and girl's player Sandy Gumulya, and Stephen Amritraj of the United States, who is the son of former renowned Indian player Vijay Amritraj.

Soebronto said 24 youths had withdrawn from the championships due to security concerns.

Director of Perusahaan Gas Negara A. Qoyum Tjandranegara expressed hope that his company would sponsor the Group III championships for as long as possible.

"We are focusing on junior championships. We have allocated a budget until the 2001 championships but we expect that we will still be able to sponsor the event next year. Beginning 2004, we also plan to sponsor a Satellite event here," he said.

The junior championships cost about Rp 140 million (US$14,141) to stage, while a Satellite takes Rp 300 million to Rp 350 million and a Future costs Rp 450 million. (ivy)