RI confident of beating Thailand to tennis gold
RI confident of beating Thailand to tennis gold
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia is optimistic of winning the golds in
tennis despite the presence of Thailand's world-ranked-38 women's
singles player, Tamarine Tanasugarn.
"We don't have any problems even if our players have to meet
Tamarine," said tennis training director Benny Mailili yesterday.
Indonesian singles player Wynne Prakusya, whose world ranking
is in the 600s, said: "I don't see any threats if Tamarine
plays."
Indonesia will field Wynne and Wukirasih Sawondari in the team
event singles. In the doubles, Indonesia is likely to play
Wukirasih/Irawati Moerid Iskandar and Wynne/Liza Andriyani.
The four players were the country's Fed Cup team against Italy
in July when Indonesia lost 0-5. Of the four only Irawati has
joined the SEA Games team.
Benny said Indonesia had the opportunity to make a variety of
doubles combinations because all the players had similar
technical skills.
"I will set a sort of test tomorrow to decide the doubles," he
said.
Thailand will field Tamarine and Suvimol Duangchan in the
singles and Benjamas Sangaram and Marissa Niraj in the doubles.
Indonesia expects to win five of the seven golds on offer in
the tennis competition.
Benny, however, also said that his players must also be aware
of the Philippines' players.
He said that on the men's side, Indonesia would field the same
players who played in the Davis Cup team.
Suwandi, the 1993 SEA Games gold medalist, and Andrian
Raturandang will compete in the singles and Bonit
Wiryawan/Sulistyo Wibowo will play in the doubles.
"It's more difficult to change the combinations on the men's
side compared to the women's side," he said.
"Although we beat them in the Davis Cup early this year, we
have to be aware of their skills because we will be playing on
clay courts," Benny warned.
Thailand's track and field team, which will start to compete
on Oct. 15, is convinced it will dominate the events, said team
manager Anawin Pukdeejit yesterday.
"I am sure about our chances because Thailand has good and
strong athletes," he said, adding that his team had hardly missed
any invitations to compete in other countries.
Thailand expects to win at least seven gold medals on the
track, the men's and women's 200 meters, the women's 400 meters,
the women's 400 meters hurdles, the men's and women's 4x100
meters and the women's 800 meters.
Thailand sees Malaysia and the Philippines as its toughest
opponents, with the host country somewhat less threatening.
Track and field
Thailand's tracks team would be like a time bomb which only
needs time to explode and raze the gold medals with them, he
said.
In the field events, Pukdeejit said Thailand hoped to win five
gold medals from the six women's field events.
" We can only hope, you know, the athletes are young while the
Philippines has a strong team," he said.
Expectations are highest in the high jump, shot putt, discus,
javelin, and triple jump.
"We'll let the Philippines take the gold medal in the long
jump. I know that it will go to Elma Mouros with her Chiang Mai
record of 6:34," he said.
"Thailand's athlete doesn't have such a good record, Vacharee
only has 5:80 as her best, still far behind," he added.
The optimism of the chief manager seemed to echo among the
athletes.
The 21-year-old Worasit Vechaput, who is expected to get the
gold in the men's 200m said that he had run since he was 10 years
old.
"The 200 meters, is my specialty. My best time for that event
is 21:07," he said proudly.
He also eyed the men's 4x100m relay, in which he will race
with senior team mate Niti Piyapan.
Niti Piyapan said," Before the Games start, I think the
chances are the same for all participants."
"But in my heart I believe that we'll get the most golds," he
said. (04/yan)