Indonesia completes double in team tennis titles

KUALA LUMPUR (JP): Indonesia accomplished a double win in the tennis team event at the 21st Southeast Asian Games on Wednesday with a gold medal in the men's category after beating defending champion Thailand 2-1.

The success began with a scare, however, as the Indonesian side trailed one game down after Peter Handoyo lost 6-3, 6-4 to veteran player Vittaya Samrej, who at 37 is one of the oldest participants at the Games.

In the second singles, Indonesian top player Suwandi fought not only his Thai rival Danai Udomchoke, but the psychological pressure to win the game.

Suwandi got off to a good start, winning the first set 6-3, but conceded the second 6-2.

Both kept up with each other in the deciding set, and at one point Danai led 5-3 before Suwandi came back to end with a tie at 6-6.

Again Danai took the early 5-2 lead in the tiebreaker before Suwandi clawed his way back for an equalizer. Later, the Thai reached the match point twice, but unforced errors cost him and his team the gold medal. Suwandi won the tiebreaker 11-9.

"It was very tense because Peter lost his match. But that had been expected as his opponent is more experienced. On the other hand, this was Peter's debut in a multisport event," team manager Aga Soemarno told The Jakarta Post.

The Indonesian team regrouped for a quick discussion to determine the lineup of the men's doubles pair.

"We initially prepared Bonit Wiryawan to team up with Sulistyo Wibowo. But after the discussion we decided to field Suwandi and Bonit and the whole team agreed with the decision," said Aga.

"All team members understood that they had to give priority to the greater cause, which was winning the gold medal."

Bonit and Suwandi won easily 6-1, 6-3 over Vittaya and Danai, due in part to Suwandi's flawless play.

Meanwhile in the individual events, Indonesian women's singles tennis players cruised to the semifinals.

Romana Tedjakusuma barely broke a sweat to defeat Czarina Mae Arevalo of the Philippines 6-0, 6-1 while compatriot Wynne Prakusye was also too strong for Malaysian Tan Lynn Yin, who she expelled with a 6-1, 6-0 victory.

In another quarterfinals match, host Khoo Chin Bee did not lose a point when she beat Vietnamese Tran Thi Kim Loi 6-0, 6-0. Meanwhile, Suchanan Virapresert of Thailand defeated Singaporean Wong Rui-Jing Jaime 6-1, 6-1.

In the women's doubles, Romana and starlet Angelique Widjaja beat Arevalo and Jennifer Saret of the Philippines 6-1, 6-2 for a place in the second round. (nvn)