Indonesia sends four squash aces to Manila

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia sent four of its top squash players to the East Asian Squash tournament in Manila yesterday, said an official of the Indonesian Squash Rackets Associations (PSRSI).

"We hope to make it to the last five this time around," said Faried Amir to The Jakarta Post on Monday evening.

Faried also said that this is the ninth time that Indonesia will participate in the event.

"Usually we end up in the last eight," he said.

He added that the players are well-prepared to attain the objective.

The Indonesian team consists of Irwan Slamet, Abdul Manaf, Shendy Suryo and Nuryanto, who will be accompanied by team manager Bakaruddin Basnan.

At the occasion, Faried also said that PSRSI plans to launch a more aggressive campaign to promote squash in Indonesia. The sport is currently played in 17 provinces despite the complete absence of public courts.

"We will build two public courts in the Senayan sports complex beginning next September," he said. "They should be finished within a year."

"Afterwards we will lobby schools, especially the secondary schools (SMP), to adopt squash as an extra-curricular activity," he said.

Faried, an executive at the Bimantara Group, also hopes that the sport will be someday be played by "people other than those who patronize fancy fitness centers."

"We have calculated that the average cost to play squash, outside of court development, is actually cheaper than badminton," he said, without giving a detailed breakdown.

"Moreover, the courts do not take up much space," Faried said. (hdj)