Febi prefers expulsion from SEA Games to dormitory room

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's tennis men's singles Febi Widhiyanto said on Tuesday that he would rather be eliminated from the national team for the 20th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games next month than being forced to stay in a dormitory chosen by the Indonesia Tennis Association (Pelti).

"I wouldn't object to being eliminated if they tried to force me to stay in the dormitory. I always come to practice sessions on time every morning. It only takes me about 15 minutes to get here. Why should I stay in the dormitory if I can go home?" he said during a practice break.

Febi and Hendri Susilo Pramono dismissed Pelti's regulation which stipulates that athletes being groomed for the biennial event in Brunei Darussalam from Aug. 7 and Aug. 15 must stay at the PT Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN) dormitory on Jl. Daan Mogot, West Jakarta.

Both players have opted to stay with their coach Deddy Prasetyo.

Febi said nobody, not even his coach, prompted him to make the statement.

"I made a decision and I will commit to it," he said.

Pelti has selected 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 team.

Indonesia's national training executive director, Imron ZS, and tennis training director, Martina Widjaja, both agreed to discuss the problem before making a decision.

"I just returned home from an overseas trip. I must discuss with coaches and talk to both players. If they have a reasonable explanation, why must we disagree? But I hope they can stay together with other players here," said Martina.

"All players must stay together if they join a national training program because it makes it easier for us to control their programs, nutrition, health, physical and psychological conditions and so on," Imron said.

Women's team coach, Suharyadi, said that all the women's players would compete in the West Java Governor Cup by the end of this month in Bandung.

"It's really important for women's players to get a competitive spirit in a real tournament. I don't care if they face less stronger opponents," he said.

Suharyadi hopes his athletes will win three golds in the women's singles, women's doubles and women's team just as the Indonesian team did two years ago.

"If Thailand were not sending both Tamarine Tanasugarn and Benjamas Sangaram, I believe we'd have a chance to win three golds in the women's sector," he said.

Suharyadi repeated Sangaram's statement during their meet several weeks ago that they both would skip the Games because of tight schedules and Tanasugarn wanted to improve her world ranking, which is in the 60s.(yan)