Indonesia 'must act quickly' to groom youngsters

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia must take immediate action in anticipation of a shortage of future tennis players due to a poor regeneration of athletes, especially in facing the next Olympic Games, Yayuk Basuki warned on Saturday.

"I will compete in my fourth Olympic Games in Sydney. It means I have been defending the country for 16 years. I'm not sure if I will defend the country again in the next Olympics," Yayuk told The Jakarta Post.

"I would be glad to do so but it will only show that there is something wrong with our regeneration process. Even this year's participation justifies such concerns."

Yayuk said the regeneration of professional tennis players had stopped for a while causing a shortage of good players.

"Pelti should organize more tournaments in Indonesia for the youngsters. It is useless if they train hard everyday without any chance to observe their improving skills.

"Then Pelti can send them to international tournaments once they have the skills to compete at such tournaments. We can't send them just like that to foreign tournaments."

Yayuk was awarded a wild card from the International Tennis Federation (ITF) for the women's doubles, partnering with junior Wynne Prakusya. Wynne, whose world rank is 116, also received a wild card from the ITF, the International Olympics Committee (IOC) and the Sydney Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (SOCOG) for the singles event.

Tennis observer Benny Mailili agreed with Yayuk's opinion saying that Indonesia has shown a declining trend in tennis in Olympics as its players only receive wild cards instead of qualifying for the events.

"With the change of rules from the ITF, we can't qualify players for the Olympics but we can still field our players there," he said.

Since tennis was featured for the first time in 1984, the ITF have always staged continental zone qualifications. This time it is directly accepting 48 players according to their ranking. The other 16 spots are allocated through wild cards.

"If Indonesia wants to perform in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, the Indonesian Tennis Association (Pelti) must start preparing players next year. We still have Wynne on the women's side but we also have a young starlet Angelique Widjaja, who is only 16."

"Angelique must compete in both junior and senior tournaments. By the age of 20, she will be ready to represent the country at the Olympics," said Benny, who is also Pelti's spokesman.

"While in the men's sector, we still have Suwandi, Febi Widhiyanto, Hendri Susilo Pramono and Peter Handoyo. They only need sponsorships to be able to compete in many tournaments to improve their world rankings."

When asked about Indonesia's target for the Olympic Games, Yayuk said she could only do her best considering the fact that she was an unseeded player.

"I only aim to be the best Asian player in the Olympic. Once I can reach that goal, it will be easier for me."

Wynne also shared similar aspirations that her first Olympics experience would be useful.

"Olympics is the biggest sports event and all athletes want to play and win medals here. It will be a great achievement if I can be the best of the Asians there," she said.

"It's a great chance if I have to meet a seeded player at an early stage. But I'm not worried at all because it's a rare opportunity to have top world players as opponents," added Wynne.

Mini tennis

Pelti also staged Gebyar Mini Tennis 2000 at the Senayan tennis complex Saturday to promote tennis among elementary school students as a way to find more talent.

The event was also a farewell party for Yayuk, Wynne and coach Suzanna Anggar Kusuma before flying with the last batch to Sydney on Sunday evening.

Yayuk saw the mini tennis event as an important opportunity to recruit more talented young players to fill the gap.

"Children will find tennis fun with lighter and smaller mini tennis equipment suitable for their bodies. It's difficult for them to control a racket of an ordinary size," she said.

"The young players can shift to real tennis after they already master the skills of mini tennis." (nvn/yan)