Indonesia champion at Asia-Oceania tennis meet
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.