Malaysian stint useful for hockey team

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's men's hockey team learned a lesson from its 0-6 defeat to the Malaysian team during a 10-day overseas stint in the neighboring country in preparation for the 20th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Brunei Darussalam next month.

The Indonesian Hockey Association (PHSI) patron, Rajkumar Singh, said on Friday Indonesia gained experience from the Malaysian team, scheduled to leave for Germany to attend a training center for the 2001 world hockey championship in Malaysia.

"Although our team was defeated in the match, they must have learned something, because the Malaysian hockey team is being prepared for the World Cup," he told Antara.

Singh said the match was part of a strategy to win medals in the Games. PHSI picked Malaysia as a practice partner because it was the strongest team in the region.

PHSI will only send the men's team to the biennial event. It will not send the women's team due to their poor physical performance. Two years ago, Indonesia earned a bronze from the women's team.

Singh also said Indonesia would challenge Malaysia's SEA Games team and the best clubs in the country.

"I hope our team can achieve more than we got two years ago," he said.

Volleyball

Separately, Indonesian men's volleyball team cruised into the final of the Southeast Asian volleyball championship in Sisaket, Thailand, after overcoming Vietnam 3-0 (25-13, 25-22, 25-18).

Unfortunately, in the women's event, Indonesia had to bow out to Thailand 0-3 (14-25, 11-25, 13-25) in the semifinals and fought for third place on Saturday with Malaysia, which lost to Vietnam 0-3 (16-25, 16-25, 10-25).

Indonesian male spikers will meet the strong team of Thailand, which beat out Myanmar 3-1 (25-18, 25-17, 19-25, 25-19), in the semifinals, the Indonesian Volleyball Association (PBVSI) spokesman Luthfi Sukri told Antara.

Men's team coach, Gugi Gustaman, said his team had performed without pressure. In the second set, Indonesian players were sloppy in defense which enabled the Vietnamese to collect more points.

"I asked for a time-out and reminded players to focus on blocking the two Vietnamese spikers," he said.

Being successful in breaking attacks from the two spikers ensured Indonesia a win in the second set and made them unstoppable in the last.

Women's team coach, Suwandi Paweka, said the Thai's team was stronger than Indonesia. (ivy)