Asiad beach volleyball hopefuls to test skills in Asian tour

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Asian Beach Volleyball Tour will be staged in Bali over the next couple of weeks, when Indonesia's hopefuls for the 2002 Asian Games will test their skills for the last time ahead of their departure to Busan.

Busan, South Korea, is the venue for the Asian Games, which will run from Sept. 29 to Oct. 14.

"The Bali tournament is very important for the team before we go to Busan. This is a good opportunity for us to work out our strategy at the Asian Games," coach Ken Breen told reporters here on Wednesday.

The Indonesian Volleyball Association (PBVSI) is currently preparing two male and two female pairs for the Busan trip. They are Agus Salim/Koko Darkuncoro, Andi Ardiansyah/Supriadi, Risma Siswardini/Arisanti and Ni Putu Timmy/Sitti Nurjannah.

For the sake of long-term development, the host team will also field another two young pairs in the form of Dika Christina/Nini Nuraida and Roy Ronald/Andi Iswahyudi.

The tournament, which will be staged at Petittenget Beach in Seminyak, Bali, from Aug. 23 to Aug. 25, will feature 32 pairs from 21 Asian and Pacific countries.

Linda Wahyudi from promoter m-lynx said that state television TVRI would run the event live between 2.30 and 4 p.m. A total of US$20,000 in cash prizes are up for grabs.

The Pacific participants are represented by Australia and New Zealand.

Following the latest leg in the Asian Tour in China early this month, PBVSI said that they would seek top places for their teams.

"We must win in Bali if we want a draw that's favorable for us in Busan. The Bali results will count in the Asian Games seedings," Hanny Sukarty, a PBVSI's official, said.

However, Indonesia's best run in China was achieved by Agus/Koko, who finished in fourth place behind New Zealand, Kazakhstan and host China.

In the women's category, Indonesia's two pairs had to content themselves with eighth and ninth place in the field in which New Zealand appeared to be the dominant force.

"In the men's division, with New Zealand not featuring in the Asian Games, our rivals will be from Kazakhstan and China," Ken said, adding that most of strong players who had competed in China, would come to Bali.