RI tennis stars to make clean sweep in SEAG
RI tennis stars to make clean sweep in SEAG
JAKARTA (JP): There is nothing to prevent Indonesia's tennis
team from making a clean sweep at the 18th Southeast Asian Games
in Chiang Mai, Thailand, according to a senior official of the
Indonesian Tennis Association.
Association director Ponco Sutowo said on Monday that, in
terms of skill, the national team is head-and-shoulders above all
its Southeast Asian rivals.
The results of last week's 1995 Asian Tennis Championships in
Manila had shown that, he said.
Indonesia, led by world number 24 Yayuk Basuki, won the
women's doubles title and the mixed doubles title at the
championships.
In the women's doubles, Yayuk, currently Indonesia number one
female tennis player, and Romana Tedjakusuma beat Chinese
Taipei's Wang Shi Ting and Weng Tzu Ting 7-6, (7-4), 6-3 on Dec.
1.
In the All-Indonesia mixed doubles final a day later, Yayuk
and Sulistyo Wibowo downed Romana and Bonit Wiryawan 4-6, 6-4, 7-
5.
Indonesia failed to make it in the men's doubles. Suwandi and
Edi Kusdaryanto fell 3-4, 4-6 to China's number one pair Pan Bing
and Xia Jia Ping. In the men's singles, Suwandi was stopped in
the semifinal by Filipino Joseph Lizardo. Yayuk did not play in
the women's singles.
Suwandi and Romana were defending champions in the men's
singles and women's singles in the tennis competitions of the
17th SEA Games in Singapore two years ago, at which Indonesia won
three gold, one silver and five bronze medals.
The tennis competition at the Chiang Mai Games offers a total
of seven gold medals.
Given the above results, a clean sweep at the SEA Games is
already in sight, although it could be spoiled by non-technical
aspects, Ponco said.
Ponco said that non-technical factors might include lack of
concentration or lack of determination to win. He said both of
these had been apparent in Suwandi's loss to Lizardo. "Suwandi
has problems with himself. It's all up to him, whether or not he
will be able to concentrate and motivate himself for the upcoming
SEA Games," said Ponco.
But coach Deddy Prasetyo said that Suwandi's loss to Lizardo
is no cause for concern. "Suwandi was not keen enough to win.
This might have been our mistake. We said that we were going to
Manila just for a tryout. But I believe that Suwandi will win if
he plays Lizardo again at the Games," he said.
Modest target
Meanwhile, the Indonesian Billiards and Snooker Association
set a modest target of winning two of the 12 gold medals up for
grabs in the Games' billiards competition. If obtained, the
result of two gold medals would be an exact repeat of Indonesia's
1993 SEA Games' billiard performance.
Coach Azhar Nasution expressed guarded optimism that Indonesia
would earn the two gold medals from seasoned players Alwi, in the
individual nine-balls, and William Ipaniem in the individual 15-
balls.
Their performance is better than Thailand's Anurat Wongjan
(the 17th SEA Games gold medalist in the individual 15 ball
rotation), Malaysia's Cong Tin Sam (the 17th SEA Games gold
medalist in the individual nine ball), Singapore's Tan Thiong
Boon and the Philippines' Saberdo, Azhar said. Moreover, the
Philippines will not field Leonardo Andam, whose performance is
better than the two Indonesians, he added.
In Chiang Mai, 504 athletes have taken up residence in the
athletes' village, while more athletes are expected to arrive in
the next few days, Antara reported. (arf)