Chinese Taipei defeats Indonesian boys team

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian boys' tennis team was defeated 1-2 by top seeded Chinese Taipei in stage one of the qualifying round of the Asia/Oceania zone of the NEC World Youth Cup Thursday.

Insufficient preparation was given as the cause for the loss.

In the first singles match, Harris Ernanda Tedjokusumo bowed out to Hsieh Wang-cheng 1-6, 2-6.

Harris' teammate Eko Kurniawan failed to close the gap and lost to Wang Yeu-tzuoo, who ranks in the world junior top 30s, 5- 7, 0-6.

Partnering up with Naharudin, Eko rebounded and beat Hsieh and Wu Yi-cheng 6-3, 6-2 in the doubles event. With these results, Indonesia failed to enter the top eight and now must fight to stay in the top 16.

Boys team coach Deddy Prasetyo said that his athletes had only two weeks of preparation. He said the Indonesian team prepared for over 12 months to win the under-14 world youth cup two years ago.

Eko shared his coach's viewpoint, saying: "I'm very disappointed with the result. But we do not belong to the same class with Chinese Taipei. They are better than us."

Indonesia's girls team fared better by defeating India 2-1 in the group one match on Thursday.

The girls team will face New Zealand, runner-up of group four after it lost to Chinese Taipei 0-3, in the top eight match on Thursday.

Novianti started her team on the road to victory by defeating Iesha Lakhani 6-0, 1-6, 6-3. The success was followed by Angelique Widjaja, who beat Megha Vakharia 7-5, 3-6, 6-0. India's Megha and Samritha Sekar took revenge in the doubles match with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Novianti and Diana Nur Fatimah.

Girls team coach Meiske Handayani Wiguna, said after the match that her players should vary their strokes to match their rivals.

"New Zealand players used most of their power during the match but they are consistent. So our players must vary their strokes and avoid long rallies," she said.

In another boys' event, Uzbekistan overcame Sri Lanka 2-1 and China beat Hong Kong 2-1 in group two matches, India defeated New Zealand 2-1 and Pakistan beat the Philippines 2-1 in group three matches. In group four, Australia beat Malaysia 3-0.

In the girls' event, the Philippines defeated Hong Kong 2-1 and South Korea outshone Australia 2-1 in group two matches, China beat Thailand 2-1 and Singapore defeated Sri Lanka 3-0 in group three matches. (ivy)