Jakarta fields one club in Proliga finals
Imanuddin, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Entering the semifinals of the 2003 Proliga confidently on Friday, Jakarta only managed to get one of its three teams into the finals on Sunday.
The capital's only representative in the finals will be the men's Jakarta tea, which defeated newcomer Yogya Gunadarma in the first match of Friday's semifinals.
Meanwhile, two other representatives, women's Jakarta Monas and Jakarta Phinisi succumbed to their opponents' supremacy and will be spectators at Sunday's final, which features Bandung Art Deco and Gresik Phonska.
Jakarta Phinisi, which is spearheaded by national team veteran Loudry Maspaitella, surprisingly defeated Yogya Gunadarma in the first semifinal match on Friday.
Pressing the visitors since the beginning of the first set, Phinisi won in straight sets 25-22, 25-20, 25-20 in one hour and 20 minutes.
Phinisi's victory was unexpected as in their last encounter in the regular round match in Bandung two weeks ago, the Jakartans lost 2-3 to the Yogyakartans.
Gunadarma's coach Endri Oktaviantono said his team's loss was because of Loudry's superb performance in the match.
"Our players found it difficult to predict the balls by Loudry...We have to admit that Jakarta Phinisi played very well," he said.
In the women's semifinal match, the presence of two Chinese players -- Li Wen and He Shan -- proved to be an advantage for Bandung Art Deco. The Bandung-based club defeated defending champion Jakarta Monas 22-25, 25-23, 25-22 and 25-18.
Monas' players had many times been unable to block Li's smashes over the net, who benefited from her height of 187 centimeters (6 foot 3 inches), the tallest player in the women's category.
The Jakartans managed to take the first set, defeating the visitors 25-22 in 32 minutes.
But as the match entered the second set, the Bandung players were unstoppable, especially with Li's unblocked spikes and deft dink shots.
Relying mainly on its veteran player Siti Nurjanah, the Jakartans finally went down in a tiring 110-minute match.
Jakarta's second representative in the women's event -- the Jakarta Phinisi also lost in five sets.
The host players surrendered 2-3 to Gresik Phonska in a thrilling two-and-a-half hour match.
Losing the first set 22-25, the Jakarta Phinisi managed to take the second and third sets 25-23 and 25-17.
But, the host players' struggle ended in the third set as the visitors took the last two sets 25-20 and 15-13 to secure a slot in the final.
At press time, the fourth semifinal match in men's event between defending champion Bandung Tectona and Surabaya Flame was still underway.