Indonesia finds Philippines a new threat in tennis

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Indonesia sees the Philippines as a new threat along with perennial archrival Thailand in the tennis competition at the 2005 Southeast Asia (SEA) Games with the hosts fielding a group of "imported" noteworthy American tennis players on their squad.

"We should keep our eye on the Philippines right now, as several good American tennis players (with Philippine heritage) will play for them," Indonesia's women's singles ace Wynne Prakusya said on Thursday.

According August Ferry Raturandang, the deputy secretary of the Indonesian Tennis Association, world ranked number 103 women's singles player Lilia Osteloh, 27, Riza Zalameda, 19; number 204 men's singles player Cecil Mamiit, 29, and world ranked 211 men's player Eric Taino, 30, will represent the Philippines at the SEA Games, which will run from Nov. 27 to Dec. 5.

He said that those players were born and raised in the U.S. but held Philippines passports.

Now living in Columbus, Ohio, Lilia, whose father is American and mother is from the Philippines, once had a world ranking of 41 back in 2001, according to the WTAtour.com.

Cecil, born and living in Los Angeles, has his best ranking at 72nd in 1999, according to the ATPtennis.com.

Eric, a U.S. citizen and living in Los Angeles, had his best world ranking at 122nd.

Ranking-wise, they are well ahead of Indonesian players. Prima Simpatiaji is world ranked 635th, Suwandi 639th, Sunu Wahyu Trijati 918th and Bonit Wiryawan 1,088th.

Suwandi's best ranking was 318th, achieved during the 1995 season.

Wynne, who has taken over the pivotal role of the ace of the team after the withdrawal of Angelique Widjaja due to injury, is ranked 284th, along with compatriots Romana Tedjakusuma, 352nd, Ayu Fani Damayanti, 484th and Septi Mende 796th.

But Ferry refused to write off Indonesia's medal prospects.

"There will be a tough competition in tennis between Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines now," he said. "We might still be able to secure women's doubles and men's doubles wins as we are usually strong in those areas."

While acknowledging the three-way rivalry, Wynne hopes good achievements in past SEA Games would provide extra motivation to her squad.

"Our strength is that as a team ... we have more experience (in the SEA Games) than the Philippines," she said.

Wynne will play in the singles but she sees better prospects in the doubles with Romana Tedjakusuma and mixed doubles. "We are usually good in the doubles," she said. "In mixed doubles... I think we still have stronger contenders than the Philippines," she said.

Wynne contributed two of thee golds that the tennis team won at 2003 SEA Games through her partnership with Maya Rosa in women's doubles and Suwandi in mixed doubles. The other gold was produced by the men's team.