Percasi names nine players for SEAG

Percasi names nine players for SEAG

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Chess Federation (Percasi) has
named nine players to represent Indonesia at the Kuala Lumpur
Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.

The chess tournament will be held in Kuala Lumpur as an
exhibition event before being officially included at the Hanoi
2003 SEA Games.

The players in the men's division are 2001 National Champion
and International Chess Federation (FIDE) Master (MF) Irwanto
Sadikin, National Master (MN) Susanto Megaranto, International
Master (IM) Danny Juswanto, Grand Master (GM) Edhi Handoko and MI
Salor Sitanggang.

Meanwhile, MN Ai Zakiyah, MN Tuty Rahayu, women's IM (WIM) Upi
Darmayana Tamin and MN Evi Lindawati will participate in the
women's division.

"It should be a good time for us to gauge our opponents'
strength and see which countries need to be reckoned with because
the 2003 SEA Games in Vietnam will have chess as one of the medal
events," Percasi's deputy secretary-general Hendry Djamal said on
Thursday, as quoted by Antara.

"Vietnam, the Philippines and Myanmar are the countries with
players who have international experience and elo-ratings over
2500s," he added.

In a separate development, the Indonesian Volleyball
Association (PBVSI) has set a target of winning two gold medals
at the SEA Games.

PBVSI secretary-general Sutardiono said the association was
not being overoptimistic given the fact that the teams managed to
grab a gold and a silver medal at the 1997 Games in Jakarta.

"It will be a uphill task in Kuala Lumpur as the host along
with Thailand and Myanmar will be a threat to Indonesia's goal,"
he said.

"In the women's competition, threats will come from Thailand
and Vietnam," he added.

Both teams are currently on tour in Japan for a series of
trial sessions and will return to Jakarta on Aug. 24.

Unlike Sutardiono, women's team coach Winarno appeared
pessimistic about the target. He said the seniors only make up 30
percent of the team with the rest being newcomers.

"We may be in good shape physically and have skills on par
with other teams, but we still lack a fighting spirit," he said.
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