Indonesian table tennis stars hoping for Olympics glory

Indonesian table tennis stars hoping for Olympics glory

JAKARTA (JP): As many as six national table tennis players will represent the country in the Olympic Games qualifying round in Chiba, Japan, an official of the Indonesian Table Tennis Association said yesterday.

Jhoni Waworuntu, the association's secretary, told reporters after a hearing with the National Sports Council that the council has urged the association to send its athletes to take part in the qualification round slated to be held March 25 to 28.

"The participation in the qualifying round aims at boosting their technical skill in the sport before the Olympic Games," he said.

"But the final decision of their participation in the Olympics will be discussed with the council after going through the qualifying round," he added.

Earlier in the hearing, the association urged the council to allow its athletes to participate in the qualifying round. But the council could not guarantee it will be able to send the table tennis athletes, who pass the qualifying round, to the Olympics.

Jhoni said the national training program for the qualifying round will start after the Idul Fitri holidays.

However, he declined to mention the names of the athletes who will leave for the competition. But he did indicate that Indonesian cracks Rossy Damayanti and Anton Suseno are among the team members.

"We'll send three male and three female athletes in accordance with the International Table Tennis Federation's rules," he said.

Jhoni said although Indonesia sent its table tennis athletes to the Olympic Games in Barcelona four years ago and in Seoul in 1988 none of them was able to go to the quarterfinals.

"We hope our athletes will be able to go through the qualifying round and represent the country in the Olympics," he said.

Jhoni expressed his hope that Indonesian athletes will be able to reach the quarterfinals at the Olympic Games in Atlanta this year. (05)