Indonesia champion at Asia-Oceania tennis meet

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia lived up to the pretournament billing to win the Asia- Oceania qualifying matches of the Junior Davis Cup after defeating South Korea 3-0 in the final here on Sunday.

The champion, the top seed at the 14-nation tournament, beat Hong Kong and New Zealand in group matches before stopping Uzbekistan in the quarterfinals and Chinese Taipei in the semifinals, en route to the championship.

Anthony Mukti Tan took the first rubber tie, apparently having recovered from Saturday's default during Indonesia's 2-1 win over Taipei. Teaming up with Sandy Purnomo, Anthony had suffered a nose bleed, which had forced the Indonesian pair to abandon the game.

He was back on Sunday at the Senayan Tennis Court and had to work hard only in the first set before wrapping up the match 7-5, 6-2 against Kim A-ram, to give Indonesia a 1-0 lead.

Sunu Wahyu Trijati overpowered Kim Hyun-joon to assure Indonesia's domination. The 16-year-old Indonesian won 6-2, 6-4, to the cheers of scores of spectators, as well as officials of the Indonesian Tennis Association (Pelti).

Korea did not turn up in the doubles, which would have pitted Sandy Purnomo and Sunu against Kim Hyun-joon and Yoon Yo-sub, to hand the home side a 3-0 victory and revenge for the last season in Kuala Lumpur.

Anthony, who was in the Indonesian team in their KL appearance, was determined to achieve victory, saying that the success was made possible by "God's help".

"This hasn't been due to me, or Sunu or officials, but God's helping hand," he said.

On another court, India and Taipei were involved in close matches before the former scraped through to a 2-1 victory, with Rupesh Roy and Sanam K. Singh deciding the issue with a three-set win over Huang Chin-Yu and Lien Chia-Chu in the doubles.

Indonesia, Korea, India and Taipei will represent the Asia- Oceania zone at the 16-nation World Group to be staged in Essen, Germany, from Sept. 16 through Sept. 21.

As champion, Indonesia will be rewarded by being seeded, but team coach Yustejo Tarik said that he would need to improve the players' performance.

"They still lack power. Playing European and American teams, they will be up against a much stiffer challenge," Yustejo said.

Meanwhile, Pelti chairwoman Martina Wijaya, who joined the crowd of spectators at the Indonesia-Korea match, announced later that an Indonesian girls' team of three was set to take part in the Junior Fed Cup qualifying tournament, whose final round will also be played in Essen, in Kuala Lumpur, beginning on Monday.

The team comprises Lavinia Tananta, Ayu Fani Damayanti and Febri Joana. They will join teams from Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines and Thailand.

Final standings in the Asia-Oceania Qualifying Junior Davis Cup, which ended here on Sunday: 1. Indonesia 2. South Korea 3. India 4. Chinese Taipei 5. Thailand 6. Sri Lanka 7. Hong Kong 8. Uzbekistan 9. Japan 10. New Zealand 11. the Philippines 12. Pakistan 13. Iran 14. Oman.