Injured Yayuk set to lead SEA Games team
JAKARTA (JP): Yayuk Basuki, struggling with a back injury, intends to give everything she has to Indonesia's quest to win five tennis gold medals at the 18th Southeast Asian Games.
Yayuk, representing her teammates, told the touring National Sports Council (KONI) Chairman Wismoyo Arismunandar yesterday that the national tennis team would battle it out to reach the target at the Dec. 9-17 Games in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
"We have a unified commitment to winning at the Games at any cost," Yayuk told Wismoyo.
A chain-smoking Wismoyo spent more than an hour giving encouragement to the national tennis players. Wismoyo will make further visits to various training camps between now and KONI's announcement of the line-up for the national SEA Games team on Nov. 15.
Secretary-general of the Indonesian Tennis Association, Zaenal Abidin, said Yayuk and her fellow team members would take five golds, two more than Indonesia's tennis golds at the 1993 Games in Singapore. However, the two Indonesian coaches went further, predicting a clean sweep.
Women's team coach Deddy Prasetyo said Yayuk, who skipped the past two Games, was expected to lead her juniors to seize three golds in the team, singles and doubles events.
"We also hope to steal the mixed doubles crown," Prasetyo said. Prasetyo picked Federation Cuppers Yayuk, Romana Tedjakusuma, Mimma Chernovita and reserve player Maria Veronica Widyadharma for the nucleus of the women's tennis squad.
Another Deddy, Tedjamukti, expressed guarded optimism that his men's quartet of Suwandi, Bonit Wiryawan and debutants Sulistyo Wibowo and Edi Kusharyanto would give Indonesia three more golds. Suwandi took the singles laurel in his debut in 1993.
"They made satisfying improvement during their try-outs in three satellite tournaments in Beijing, Kuala Lumpur and on home soil recently," Tedjamukti told Wismoyo.
Both Prasetyo and Tedjamukti admitted that the host players would present the toughest hurdles. "But on paper we can overcome them," Prasetyo asserted.
Nevertheless, clouds continue to hang over the Indonesian side as Yayuk has yet to recover from the nagging injury she suffered during the Nokia Open in Beijing late last month. Yayuk, making her title defense attempt, crashed out of the second round to unheralded Linda Wild of the United States. The American went on to win the tournament.
The injury has since stopped Yayuk from unleashing her powerful ground-strokes and serves during training sessions.
"Yayuk is receiving intensive medical treatment, using physiotherapy and acupuncture. Hopefully she will regain her top form in three weeks time," Yayuk's personal coach and husband Suharyadi said.
Yayuk will undergo her final fitness tests at a US$100,000 WTA tournament in Pattaya, Thailand from Nov. 13 to Nov. 19 and the Asia Championships in Manila two weeks later.
Yayuk will only play doubles with Romana in the Asia Championships, which also serve as the qualifying round for the 1996 Olympic Games.
Romana will join the team on Nov. 9, after completing her American tours. She clinched a double in the NCAA tournaments in Houston recently, winning both singles and doubles titles. (amd)