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)