Indonesia gets a bye in tennis

Indonesia gets a bye in tennis

KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): Defending champion Thailand and the 1999 runner-up Indonesia were among six teams which received a first-round bye in the men's tennis competition at the 21st Southeast Asian Games here.

There was no objection to the draw of the tournament, which was held at the Jalan Duta Tennis Complex, venue for the competition, after the manager's meeting on Saturday.

Combodia, Vietnam, Singapore and Laos joined Thailand and Indonesia into the second round without hitting the ball.

A total of 10 countries will take part in the men's tennis team event. Indonesia, banking on its 1999 Games veterans, is seeded first, ahead of Thailand, which is without its top players.

In the first round tomorrow, host Malaysia will play the Philippines while Brunei will meet Myanmar.

The winner of the Malaysia/Philippines match will face Vietnam while the winner of the Brunei/Myanmar match will meet Singapore in the second round.

If the draw goes as expected, top-seeded Indonesia and second- seeded Thailand should reach the semifinals without much difficulty as they face the less-fancied Cambodia and Laos respectively in the second round.

In the semifinals, Indonesia is tipped to meet either fourth- seeded Vietnam or the winner of the Malaysia/Philippines match while Thailand is slated to face either third-seeded Singapore or the winner of the Brunei/ Myanmar game.

Indonesia and Thailand are widely tipped to play a rematch of their final two years ago in Brunei Darussalam. Thailand, then the top seed, lived up to its billing and whitewashed Indonesia 3-0 to snatch the gold.