Davis Cup team disappointed at lack Indian warm-up

JAKARTA (JP): National Davis Cup team members are disappointed with a decision made by the Indonesian Tennis Association (Pelti) that they can compete in three future tournaments in India only if they pay their own expenses.

Senior player Dede Suhendar Dinata told reporters during a training session on Thursday that all six players -- Dede, Sebastian Da Costa, Suwandi, Febi Widhiyanto, Hendri Susilo Pramono and Edy Kusdaryanto -- have been registered in the futures.

"If we have to withdraw from the three futures, Sebastian and I, who qualify for the main draw, must pay fines of about US$150 each for one tournament. I want to ask Pelti officials who will pay the fines," he said.

"This tournament is really important and it's quite impossible for us to compete in the Davis Cup against the Philippines in Manila without any warm-up tournaments," he added.

The Pelti secretary-general, Soegeng Sarjadi, announced earlier that Pelti would not finance the six athletes in the futures in India.

"Futures are individual tournaments, so we will let their clubs pay for their needs if they insist on competing in India. For Pelti, it's more important to prepare them for the Davis Cup match than the futures in India. In February we will also have two future tournaments," he said, adding that Suwandi, who trains in businesswoman Martina Widjaja's club, would go to India.

Indonesia will meet the Philippines on Feb. 4 to Feb. 6 while the Indonesian Future 1 will start on Feb. 21 and the Future 2 on Feb. 28.

Soegeng said instead of sending the athletes to India, Pelti would send the players on a tour before top officials of state- owned Petrokimia Gresik company in East Java, private-owned Djarum and Gudang Garam cigarette companies in Central and East Java respectively and PT Maspion plastic company in Surabaya to seek sponsorships.

Edy dismissed the idea, saying it would be a waste of time to compete among themselves before representatives of the big companies.

"We have been prepared to compete in India. We have trained really hard and we're not going. It's too bad. If Pelti sends me to compete in those tryouts, I will definitely decline. I'd prefer to go home to celebrate Idul Fitri," he said.

"If we don't have warm-up tournaments and play in the Davis Cup, I'm afraid we will not be psychologically prepared," he said.

Sebastian, an East Timorese native playing for Indonesia, said he would not be able to compete in India at his own expense.

"Who will finance me? I'm an orphan and I don't have a club! I don't think staging tryouts in provinces will do any good. We meet every day, why don't we compete here? After returning from tournaments in Bangladesh last month, we trained really hard for the futures in India. It's really disappointing."

"We need warm-ups in anticipation of facing the Filipinos. By competing in India, we could deal with many players from many countries with different types of playing," he said.

Coach Dedy Prasetyo said Febi and Hendri, who are in his club, would definitely not go to India as he could not afford to finance them. He also said he had explained his training programs, including three warm-up tournaments in India, to Pelti official in charge of athletes' development, Sudjiono Timan.

"Sudjiono accepted my program, although he didn't comment on it but he knew the youngsters were scheduled to compete in India," he said.

Sudjiono was unavailable for comment as he is presently in the United States. (yan)