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)