Familiar Davis Cup team announced for China tie

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)