RI women's table tennis team demoted

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian women's team was relegated to second division following its 3-0 defeat from second division champion Greece at the playoff match of the 46th World Table Tennis Championships on Tuesday in Osaka, Japan.

AFP reported that Greek Archodoula Volakaki was too strong for Fauziah Yulianti, who gave up in a rubber set 21-15, 19-21, 25- 23.

In the second match, Laoura-Ioulia Nikoulae beat Indonesian top player Rossy Pratiwi Dipoyanti 21-18, 14-21, 21-17. Indonesia's defeat continued as Ekaterini Ntoulaki overpowered Christine Feriana in a straight set 21-16, 21-14.

The women's team suffered two earlier defeats to Belarusia and Romania on Monday and finished at the bottom of Group D of the first division.

The national men's team also finished at the bottom of Group L in the second division after a 3-1 defeat to the United States.

Indonesian Ismu Harinto lifted hopes when he beat Barney Reed 21-15, 21-17 but David Jacobs dashed it with a 21-19, 17-21, 9-21 defeat to David Zhuang. Junior player Reno Handoyo failed to earn one point, losing to Eric Owens 21-17, 13-21, 16-21. In the decider, Ismu lost to Zhuang in a straight set 15-21, 12-21.

The Indonesian Table Tennis Association (PTMSI) official in charge of competition, Singgih Yehezkiel, said that the poor result indicated the failure of the training program which had started in February.

"There was no standard training method because the training was conducted separately in Bandung and Kediri," he was quoted by Antara as saying.

The separate training camps showed the club's owners arrogance, he said.

"The national interest was sacrificed because of such an attitude."

He also admitted that the Indonesian teams were not well- prepared.

"We selected the key players just one week before leaving for Osaka," he said, referring to the national selection procedure on April 14.

"We need at least two more weeks to prepare the key players to compete in such big events."

China's all-conquering women's team swept into the second stage after pummeling Lithuania while hardly raising a sweat.

The Chinese rested world number two Li Ju for the tie, substituting her with sixth seeded Yang Ying, AFP reported.

Yang, alongside double Sydney Olympic gold medalist Wang Nan and world number three Zhang Yining, thumped the Lithuanians 3-0 in just over an hour by which stage neighboring tables had barely played their first match.

The Chinese now take their place as top seeds in the next round, playing, via the complex draw system, either a lower- placed first division group or a winning second division team who win a qualifying match.

Another group winner on Tuesday was North Korea, which topped preliminary Group G after beating Germany 3-0, following its defeat of Australia on Monday.

The Germans finished above North Korea in the last world championships, but faced a highly motivated squad cheered to the rafters by thousands of drum-beating, flag-waving Japan-based Koreans. (ivy)