Febi, Hendri finally enter training program

Febi, Hendri finally enter training program

JAKARTA (JP): Two members of the 20th Southeast Asian (SEA)
Games tennis squad, Febi Widhiyanto and Hendri Susilo Pramono,
have agreed to join their teammates staying in the PT Perusahaan
Gas Negara (PGN) dormitory.

Tennis training director Martina Widjaja told a news
conference on Friday that both Febi and Hendri relented in their
stance against staying in the dormitory after their refusal
caused controversy.

"They feel comfortable playing with teammates here after weeks
of practicing. Finally, they decided to join their friends and
moved into the dormitory on Thursday night," she said.

Febi and Hendri earlier turned down the offer of the
Indonesian Tennis Association (Pelti) to stay in the PT PGN
dormitory, saying they preferred to stay at the home of their
coach, Deddy Prasetyo.

Martina said she had earlier sent a letter to Pelti chairman,
Tanri Abeng, asking him to solve the problem. She said at the
time that she would not necessarily wait for Tanri's response to
the matter.

Febi and Hendri said they had changed their minds about
staying in the dormitory without pressure from anybody.

"This is for the sake of teamwork. This is my own decision and
I was not under pressure," said Hendri.

Pelti picked Febi, Hendri, Suwandi and Yusmawan Fahmi for the
men's team and Wynne Prakusya, Romana Tedjakusuma, Liza Andriyani
and Wukirasih Sawondari for the women's. They are being coached
by Tintus Sulistyo and Suharyadi.

Indonesia has targeted three golds in the women's team, men's
double and mixed doubles.

Tintus, who coached the men's team, hailed Febi's and Hendri's
decision, saying it would boost their teammates' motivation for
winning in the biennial event. He also said the whole team would
take part in the West Java Governor Cup tennis tournament in
Bandung next week.

Separately, SEA Games training director, Imron Z.S., threw his
weight behind coach Bambang Gatot Subroto's decision to return
the Malaysian squash practice partner sooner than scheduled.

Bambang had complained that Aaron Soyza, who ranks eighth in
Malaysia, did not meet Indonesia's players' standards.

"I assume our team's skill must be better than the
Malaysian's. Pak Bambang made the right decision to pick a better
player," he said.

Bambang said he would hold a series of matches between
Indonesia's Johnny Supardi and Nuryanto and Soyza.

"If Aaron cannot reach five points, what's the use of keeping
him here?" he said.

Soyza said he had difficulty playing on the Senayan squash
courts because the court surface was different from the ones in
Malaysia.

"I used to play on faster surface courts. In Jakarta, the
court surface makes the ball move slower," he said.

Speaking on Indonesian players' chances in the Games, Soyza
said local players had a good chance of grabbing silver medals.

"They have good chances. At the least they can win second
place. They are strong enough to beat the Filipinos. They also
have equal chances against the Singaporean team. If they can beat
me, they can beat Singapore," he said.

"But I don't know how they can adapt to the fast surface
courts in Brunei."

Soyza said Malaysia would field five top players, Kenneth Low,
Ong Beng-hee, Mohammad Azlan, Yap Kok-four and Ricky Lee.

"Azlan is the youngest, but he played very good. He could be a
world-class player someday," said the 22-year-old player. (ivy)