Indonesian Davis Cup team improves
Indonesian Davis Cup team improves
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Davis Cup team has improved their physical fitness, Indonesian tennis coach Deddy Prasetyo announced yesterday.
The Davis Cup team is made up of Suwandi, Eddy Kusdaryanto, Donny Susetyo and Adrian Raturandang. They will play South Korea here between Feb. 9 and Feb. 11.
"Donny and Eddy are in tip-top shape, but Suwandi and Adrian still must improve their physical fitness," Deddy said.
Members of the team endure a twice daily workout, he said. For two hours in the morning they improve their strokes and work on their individual weaknesses.
"Our chances in the Asia Oceania Davis Cup qualifying zone against South Korea are 50-50," Deddy commented.
He admitted, however, that his charges are still below their Korean counterparts in terms of skill. "But we will make up for our technical inferiority by fighting tooth and nail with unflinching fighting spirit. Hopefully playing on home turf before a home crowd will give us the advantage," he said, masterfully stringing together the regular cliches.
At 18, Indonesia's top player Suwandi is the youngest in the squad. Adrian is 19, Eddy is 20, and Donny is the oldest at 22.
Deddy said that Korea will probably field Kim Chie-wan, Jong Jong-il and Asian champion Kim Nan-hoon.
The four Indonesian players practiced yesterday under the watchful eye of Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, the chairman of the Indonesian Lawn Tennis Association.
Sarwono, who seemed very enthusiastic, yelled every time the team made a mistake.
"Ahh... Adrian, you shouldn't have done it," he bellowed as Adrian's backhand went wide.
Sarwono said the players have been practicing very hard for the past four weeks.
"Unfortunately they still make a lot of elementary mistakes which cannot happen during the upcoming matches against the Koreans," he said.
Meanwhile, Wailan Walalangi, an assistant coach, told reporters that Suwandi will play as the first singles player.
"But right now we are still undecided as to who will be fielded as the second singles player," he said. "I hope we can decide on it next week."
Wailan played down public sentiment that Indonesia has no chance against the highly experienced Koreans without Benny Wijaya.
"Our overall strength will not be depleted. With or without Benny our strength will be the same," he said.
Benny, the country's number one player, is currently playing in Taiwan for a local club under a two-year contract.
"I have to admit that Korea is tough," said Wailan, "but we will fight all out and will not give up before the first ball is hit."
He added that winning and losing is part and parcel of sports. "If we win we should be gracious winners, and if we lose we must live with it." (05)