Malaysian stint useful for hockey team

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)