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.