Indonesia sets aim for three golds in table tennis

Indonesia sets aim for three golds in table tennis

By Primastuti Handayani

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia is targeting three table tennis golds
at the 20th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Brunei Darussalam,
despite the challenge posed by Chinese-born players on the
Malaysian and Singaporean squads.

Indonesia Table Tennis Association (PTMSI) secretary-general
Johnny F. Waworuntu said Malaysia and Singapore would field
Chinese-born players who had resided in both countries for some
time.

International Table Tennis Federation rules state nonnative
players are allowed to play for a new country if he or she has
resided in the country for three years. However, these players
can only compete in individual events, not team events.

"But the rules for the SEA Games are different. Players must
be citizens of the country they represent," he said.

PTMSI urged the National Sports Council (KONI) to raise the
issue at the National Olympic Committee executive meeting in
Brunei Darussalam during the Games, which will take place from
Aug. 7 to Aug. 15.

Faced with the challenge of the Chinese-born players,
Indonesia will have a difficult task retaining its table tennis
dominance in the biennial event.

Indonesia swept all seven table tennis golds at the 1995 Games
in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and won five golds in the 1997 Games
here.

Three table tennis golds -- in the men's singles, doubles and
team event -- at this year's Games sounds like a realistic
target.

Indonesia's male players will face their toughest rivals in
Chinese-born players from Malaysia -- world number 61 Li Jun
Hwei, the 1987 Asian junior champion, and Yao Lin Ching.

In the women's events, Indonesia's chances of winning gold are
slight because Singapore will field its Chinese-born players.
They are world number eight Jin Ju Hong, Liu Cha Hwee and Liu
Yuan-Yuan. Jin recently defeated world number one Deng Ya Ping of
China.

The Malaysian women also have an outside shot of grabbing gold
with Chinese-born Yao Ling Ching.

However, Indonesia's women's doubles team of Puteri Hasibuan
and Fauziah Juliati have a chance to steal a gold.

Waworuntu said Indonesia's table tennis athletes had limited
overseas training in China this year.

"Usually they train in China for three months, but this year
they only had one month. Hopefully they learned something from
their time there," he said.

Ten male and female table tennis athletes spent one month in
China, returning home on Tuesday before flying to Brunei on
Wednesday.

Coach Leman Affandi said the players toured seven cities in
China -- Beijing, Harbin, Shenyang, Changchun, Qingdao, Shanghai
and Nanjing -- training with world-class players.

"We had tough opponents during the stints in Beijing and
Shanghai. But I'm glad our athletes improved their playing
strategy during the training.

"They saw that their opponents were difficult to beat. They
must also raise their level of performance so that they are not
easy to beat," he said.

Leman said all the athletes increased their self-confidence
during their time in China.

"Now they are highly self-confident they will be able to
overcome their future opponents in the Games no matter how hard
and difficult the matches are. The most important thing they have
learned is to build their confidence."

Lineups

Men: Anton Suseno, Deddy Rudolf Da Costa, Ersan Sutanto Tan,
Hadiyudo Prayitno and Muhammad Al Arkam

Women: Celia Nilasari Jusma, Christine Ferliana Santoso, Fauziah
Jualianti, Puteri Septi Naulina Hasibuan and Rossy Pratiwi
Dipoyanti