Familiar Davis Cup team announced for China tie

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia refused to gamble yesterday when it reappointed Andrian Raturandang, Febi Widhiyanto, Sulistyo Wibowo and Bonit Wiryawan for the Davis Cup Asia Oceania Zone Group I second playoff match against China next month.

National team manager Benny Mailili said upon announcing the unsurprising package yesterday that the quartet were chosen based on a set of criteria, including ATP rankings, physical fitness, mental preparedness and their performances during the national trials last month.

Two other national players, Surya Wijaya and Sebastian da Costa, failed to qualify for the Davis Cup team.

The playoff, scheduled from Sep. 25 to Sep. 27 in China, will be a do-or-die match for both China and Indonesia because the loser will have to play a qualifying match for a place in the zone group next year.

The quartet named yesterday lost to Lebanon in the first playoff in Beirut last month, but chairman of the Indonesian Tennis Association Sarwono Kusumaatmadja said his players would overcome the Chinese challenge.

"The Chinese are not as strong as they used to be years ago. If we fail to beat them, how can we expect to have a say in the Asian Games?" he said.

A victory over China would open up a chance for the team to compete in the 13th Asian Games in December. The National Sports Council has listed Yakuk Basuki, ranked number 37 in the world, as the only tennis player to represent Indonesia in the games.

Benny said both Sebastian and Surya could be recruited as stand-ins if any of the four players were injured.

Coach Deddy Prasetyo, also non-playing captain, said that Surya was the player most likely to be called upon if any of the players were unable to play.

The association's deputy secretary-general, Subiyanto, said the National Sports Council would start a centralized training program on Sept. 1 in the last phase of preparations for the Asiad.

He also said the association has suggested that its the East Java branch try to persuade the cigarette company Wismilak to sponsor the national championships.

The company had committed itself to sponsoring a WTA tier three tournament here which was later canceled for security reasons.

Earlier yesterday, the tennis body named three boys and three girls in the team for the World Junior Tennis Championships to be held in Nagoya, Japan, from Aug. 26 to Aug. 30.

Naharuddin, Eko Kurniawan and Fandy Suyadi will line up the boys' team, while Angelique Wijaya, Novianti Warsono, Diana Julianto won the places in the girls' team. (yan)