Davis Cup heroes return to thrill tennis officials

JAKARTA (JP): A warm welcome and enthusiasm for future challenges met the Indonesian Davis Cup team as it arrived at the national tennis headquarters yesterday.

Sarwono Kusumaatmadja was the most enthusiastic of the officials who greeted the team at the headquarters. He was thrilled by the team's 3-2 victory over the Philippines.

"I hope the victory could bring in more companies to sponsor the team at a number of competitions," said Sarwono, the state minister of environment and also chairman of the Indonesian Tennis Association.

The victorious Davis Cup team of Suwandi, Andrian Raturandang, Bonit Wiryawan and Sulistyo Wibowo returned from Manila yesterday.

Indonesia defeated the Philippines 3-2 in the first round tie of the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group which ended Sunday.

The victory means Indonesia will face New Zealand in the next round in Jakarta in April.

The Indonesian players completed a mighty comeback after losing 0-2 in the opening singles last Friday to the Philippines when Robert Angelo beat Suwandi 7-6 7-6 6-3 and Joseph Lizardo overcame Andrian 6-4 5-7 7-5.

The doubles team of Bonit Wiryawan and Sulistyo Wibowo made it 1-2 after beating Pio Tolentino and Michael Misa in straight sets 6-1 6-4 6-0 Saturday.

Suwandi bounced back from his disappointing loss in the opening singles and beat Joseph Lizardo 6-2 1-6 6-3 5-7 6-2 to make the score 2-2 for Indonesia on Sunday.

On the same day, Bonit Wiryawan, playing in place of Andrian, took the score to 3-2 after beating Angelo in five sets 6-2 1-6 4-6 6-1 6-3.

"Our players were not disturbed by the 2-0 loss but instead were confident they could beat the Philippines. This was also evident in the way Australia managed to defeat France in the world group Davis Cup tie," Sarwono said.

Optimistic

He was optimistic that Indonesia could beat New Zealand in the next tie here.

"Indonesia will beat New Zealand so long as the team is well prepared, physically and mentally," Sarwono said.

Andrian, the second singles player who lost to Lizardo, was frustrated by comments that he lost because of over confidence. He blamed his loss on poor air circulation in the Indoor Philippines Columbian Association stadium.

"It's not true my loss to Lizardo was because of my over confidence but because of the stadium's poor air circulation," Andrian said.

Andrian had a chance to win the match after stealing the second set, even though he vomited during the set.

In the third set, Andrian's physical condition deteriorated. He vomited again, but struggled on regardless. Andrian finished the match before being sent to hospital.

Virgilo Sison, the Philippines non-playing captain told The Manila Times recently that he was upset by their players' performance in the competition but admired the Indonesians sudden comeback victory.

"Our boys played well, but the Indonesians displayed super- human qualities. I'm hats off to them," the Times quoted Sison as saying.

Sison added, "Yes, we had some miscalculations and some timings were off. And I take full responsibility for these." (lnt)