High hopes for Indonesian girls' team in Asian school c'ship
High hopes for Indonesian girls' team in Asian school c'ship
JAKARTA (JP): The country hopes to win two of six gold medals
on offer in the girls' team and individual events at the Asian
Schools Tennis Championships at the Senayan tennis complex.
Indonesia's deputy team manager Deddy Prasetyo said on Monday
that the girls were on the same level as other teams. However, he
acknowledged that Indonesia's boys would face a tough challenge
from China, Thailand and Malaysia.
Indonesia has picked four girls and four boys to compete in
the six-days championships, which will be held for the first time
here.
The girls' team consists of national junior players Frederika
Girsang, Angelique Wijaya, Mudarwati and Novianti Warsono. The
boys' team comprises Ferza Gautama, Irwan Radjab, Prima
Simpatiaji and Naharuddin.
The championships -- jointly organized by the Directorate
General for Extracurricular Activities, Education, Youth and
Sports of the Ministry of Education and Culture and the
Indonesian Tennis Association (Pelti) -- will open on Tuesday on
the complex's clay courts and will feature 75 players from Brunei
Darussalam, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, India, China and Thailand.
"Thai Chattida Thimjapo, ranked 133 among the world's juniors,
is the toughest rival for our players but the strengths of the
others are still unknown. Our players are ranked below her,"
Deddy said.
"Our girls can win in the team event as they have equal
skills, but in the individual, only Frederika and Angelique have
major chances for gold," he told a media briefing.
Frederika is ranked 183rd in the world, the highest ranking
among the four, while Angelique is 224th, Novianti 420th and
Mudarwati 598th.
Frederika said she had never played against any of the other
players but she would try her best to win in the championship.
"I think I have opportunity to win," said the third-year
student at Ragunan senior sports high school.
In the boys' events, Deddy said that Chinese An Da-peng, Thai
Pacharapol Khamsaman and Malaysian Mohd. Nazreen Fuzi B.
Nazaruddin were stronger on paper than their Indonesian rivals.
"An Da-peng has won the world 16-and-under tennis
championships for the Asia-Oceania zone a total of six times. I
know Khamsaman is good on hard courts because I have practiced
with him, but I don't know about his play on clay," he said.
(ivy)