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)