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. (01)