Indonesia eyes berths at world junior c'ships

Indonesia eyes berths at world junior c'ships

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia enters the Asia/Oceania qualifying
tournament for the World Junior Tennis Championship today in an
upbeat mood.

National coach Deddy Prasetyo said yesterday both the boys'
and girls' teams held a great chance to win berths to the world
meet because they could match their opponents technically.

"Our team is made up of national best players who are
experienced in international competitions," Deddy said.

Indonesia will field Eko Kurniawan, Naharudin and Fandi Suyadi
in the boys, and Angeliqua Wijaya, Novianti Warsono and Diana
Julianto in the girls.

The boys are from the Indonesian Tennis Association-run
training camp in Bandung and were picked for the international
event following a national selection here recently.

Deddy has been named the nonplaying captain for the boys' team
and Alfred Raturandang for the girls.

He predicted the trio of Angeliqua, Novianti and Diana could
fare even better than their male teammates, thanks to maturity
beyond their years.

"Angeliqua and Novianti are both veterans of last year's
event. Their experience in the world championship does them
credit," Deddy said.

The two players were the backbone of the Indonesian girls'
team which qualified for the world meet in Tokyo last year after
finishing third in the qualifying tournament behind Australia and
South Korea.

Their male compatriots managed only fifth.

This year's qualifying tournament will be played on slow clay
courts at the Senayan tennis complex.

A total of 27 national squads -- 14 of them boys' teams --
will vie for three places in the world championship which will be
held in Nagoya next August.

Each team will be made up of two singles players and a doubles
team.

The 14 male squads will be divided into four groups, with
group winners reaching the semifinals after playing round-robin
matches.

Unlike the boys' section, the girls' event splits the
participating teams into a two-team round robin. The top two in
each group will qualify for the semifinals.

The Indonesian boys' team joins China, Thailand and Lebanon in
Group 3. Indonesia opens its campaign today against the Lebanese.

Indonesia is grouped with Chinese Taipei, India, Hong Kong,
the Philippines and China in the girls' event. The host team will
meet Hong Kong in its opening match today.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong team coach Christ Numbers expressed
guarded optimism that his team would improve its last year's
performance.

"As far as I know, we did good last year but this time we have
higher expectations," said Numbers, who is in his first year with
the Hong Kong team. "My team members were winners in some junior
tournaments in United States."

The players have just returned from a junior competition in
California, where their top boys' singles player, Jeffrey Wong,
triumphed.

"Physically they're taller than other players and inside
they're solid and disciplined," said Numbers, who was also named
the nonplaying captain for the girls' team. (emf)