Indonesia Open assured for '96

Indonesia Open assured for '96

JAKARTA (JP): Chairman of the Indonesian Tennis Association (Pelti), Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, announced yesterday that poor attendance and lack of sponsorship would not deter Pelti from organizing the Indonesia Open Tennis Championships next year.

"For the sake of national tennis development, Pelti has decided to hold the annual tournament next year," Sarwono, who is also Minister of Environment, said yesterday in a statement.

Sarwono indicated that if, due to poor attendance, there were no sponsors interested in next year's tournament, Pelti would turn to the Adi Nawaeka foundation to keep it running.

The foundation was set up last year to anticipate any financial crisis related to a lack of sponsorship. It is comprised of eight people, including Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono who acts as patron, and Pontjo Soetowo, owner of the Hilton Hotel Indonesia.

Previously, Sarwono had said he would first discuss the matter with the private bank which had spent US$600,000 to sponsor this year's tournament before deciding about the future of the tournament.

Sarwono said he believed that if Pelti consistently holds the tournament annually, more and more people would become interested in going to the stadium to watch it live and, one day, the tournament would be watched by a filled-to-capacity stadium.

Eddy Katimansyah, the current tournament director, said that Yusuf Arbianto, director of the private bank which sponsored the this year's tournament, had told him that he was disappointed about the turnout and would only act as a co-sponsor next year.

The number of spectators at the two-week tournament, which started on Jan. 2 with the women's event and continued on Jan. 9 with the men's open, reached a low ebb this year.

Yesterday's finals were watched by only 200 people even though it was held on a weekend.

Paul Haarhuis, winner of the men's singles, expressed dismay at the poor turnout.

Attendance was good only at the exhibition match between Indonesian tennis queen Yayuk Basuki and former tennis great Martina Navratilova on Jan. 4, where the number of spectators reached 2,400 (arf).