Low expectations for RI table tennis team

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian table tennis team has been working out at a specialized training camp in China, but the team manager still believes his charges have little chance of matching the regional powerhouses in the chase for gold at the Southeast Asian Games.

Deddy Kurniawan Wikanta said here on Wednesday that his players simply had less talent than their regional rivals.

"In the men's division, Singapore and Vietnam are still on top, while in the women's division, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand are favorites," he said.

Singapore, with several former Chinese players in its lineup including Yang Che Lin in the men's division, took six of seven gold medals on offer at the last SEA Games in Vietnam in 2003.

Vietnam took the remaining gold, while Indonesia, once the dominant table tennis force in southeast Asia, came away with a disappointing four bronzes.

"But we want to improve our achievement from four bronzes in 2003 to one or two silvers this year... so we've sent our players to Guangzhou for the training camp," Deddy said.

"Who knows, maybe we can steal one gold from the men's doubles," he said, referring to local pairing of Yon Mardiono and David Yacob.

Indonesia had its golden era in table tennis when it won seven golds in the 1993 SEA Games.

Guangzhou has been chosen as the training camp site for ten Indonesian players since the province is known for its world- class players such as World Cup and Olympic champion Ma Lin.

Deddy said that the players were undergoing intensive workouts under the supervision of three Chinese coaches.

Included in the five-month program was a scrimmage with a local junior team.

Men's pair M. Husein and Reno Handoyo won 3-2 against Cing I Sung and Lu Yuen Hui. Men's singles Reno posted two 3-0 victories and M. Husein also won one match.

The other men's doubles pair Yon David lost 1-3 and 2-3 to Che Liong and Chen Wen, although in singles, Yon beat Chen.

In the women's division, Indonesian singles players Ceria Nilasari Jusma, Christine Ferliana both lost 0-3 against the Guangdong junior players.

Santi Febriani and Istiyani Lindawati were beaten 1-3 by their Guangdong opponents. In the Asian Championship, the Indonesian men's and women's teams both finished in 10th place.

Deddy said that Indonesian players had made some good progress in terms of technique.

"Now, they can return quick and powerful shots so that the opponents can't contiguously attack them," he said.