Anton to join Rossy in Atlanta

Anton to join Rossy in Atlanta

JAKARTA (Agencies): Anton Suseno won Indonesia a second
Olympic table tennis berth in the Asia zone qualifying tournament
in Chiba, Japan yesterday.

Anton rallied to beat Chiang Peng-lung of Taiwan 13-21, 27-25,
21-12, 12-21, 21-16 to finish as the best player from the
Southeast Asian zone.

The loss snapped Chiang's five-match unbeaten run in the
playoff for 9th to 16th places, but it could not deny him a
passage to the Atlanta Olympics. Toshio Tasaki of Japan, who tied
the 5-1 record, also clinched an Olympic berth.

On Tuesday Indonesia's top female paddler, Rossy Pratiwi
Dipoyanti, booked her place in Atlanta, also as the best player
from Southeast Asia. Indonesia fielded three men and three women
in the tournament which wound up yesterday.

Both Anton and Rossy finished 14th in their respective
divisions after completing their round-robin matches.

The two national top players made their Olympic debuts in
Barcelona four years ago. They will now undergo a centralized
training session at home, as said earlier by Noeryanto, the
training director of the Indonesian Table Tennis Association.

Noeryanto pointed out that a foreign coach is necessary if the
country's bid for success in Atlanta is to be genuine.

Chetan Baboor and Ambika Radhika of India earned trips to
Atlanta as the best men's and women's players from the central
Asian zone.

A maximum of three players from one country and the top seven
finishers here will be eligible for the Olympics.

China, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan had only one seat each
available before the tournament, giving the remaining three
tickets for Atlanta to the ninth-16th places group.

Chinese Liu Wei scored her sixth win in a row after defeating
compatriot Wang Nan and Qiao Yunping on Wednesday to finish first
in the women's event competition.

South Korean Ryu Ji-hye beat Kim Boon-sik to set a record of
five wins against one loss.

Chinese-born Japanese Taeko Todo stood with 2-4 against Tomoko
Ono's 0-6 with one more match each to go.

While Liu Guoliang of China, the world singles silver
medalist, survived to grab China's last Olympic ticket in the
first-eight places playoff round.

North Korean Kim Hyang-Mi and Kim Hyon-Hui gained two more
berths for their country by marking their fourth wins against two
losses in the ninth-16th places playoff round.