Pregnancy not snag for Irawati

Pregnancy not snag for Irawati

JAKARTA (JP): Former national tennis player Irawati Moerid
Iskandar may be the only expectant mother slugging it out in
tournaments.

The 32-year-old Irawati, who is seven months pregnant, said
she has had no problem playing tennis during her pregnancy.

"I feel my baby enjoys the activity. I have a strong desire to
play in tournaments. Before this tournament, I played three or
four practice sets every day."

Irawati, nicknamed Ira, said her husband, Gilang Iskandar, has
no objections to her continued participation in tennis. "He only
suggests that I quit playing if I don't feel comfortable
anymore."

Ira is partnering Luky Tedjamukti, another former national
player, in the women's doubles at the 2001 Cigna Open Colors of
Life tournament. They reached the semifinals of the event on
Wednesday after the young duo of Rachmawati Siregar and Uce
Verianti retired in the first set.

Speaking about the country's young players, Irawati said they
still had a way to go before they could match the older players.

"I have never played singles against them, but I played
against them in doubles and I think they are still far from
equaling us in our heyday. They have good ground strokes but they
can't volley well," she said.

Irawati and Luky reached their golden years along with Suzanna
Anggarkusumah, Waya Walalangi and Yayuk Basuki.

"Luky is two years older than me, and she's a mother of three.
Our last achievement was winning the women's doubles gold at the
1991 Southeast Asian Games in Manila, where we outclassed the
Indonesian pair of Joyce Riana Sutedja and Tanya Soemarno," said
the mother of 5-year-old Nazhiira Nadia Iskandar.

Ira said she talked to Yayuk about making the 2004 National
Games (PON) in Palembang, South Sumatra, their last domestic
appearance. "I told her that we should play in PON for one last
time, just for fun."

Last October, Ira, Yayuk and former national men's karateka
Arthur Rorek, Dewi, Zhafar and Bakri opened a small cafe near the
Indonesian Tennis Association office at the Bung Karno Sports
Complex in Senayan, Central Jakarta.

The cafe operates from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m, serving Indonesian
dishes like sate, soups, curry and roast fish. She hired three
chefs, a cashier and a bartender to serve diners.

"We hope that we can reach the break-event point in one year."

She recalled having to help serve diners because the cafe was
full of visitors during the first day of the tournament on
Sunday.

"I helped roast the fish because the cafe was full. When it
was time for me to play in the women's doubles qualifying match,
suddenly I realized that my T-shirt smelled fishy. Luky confirmed
this. I must have looked very bad at the time," she said. (ivy)