Romana misses out on selection
Romana misses out on selection
JAKARTA (JP): Former Indonesian Fed Cup team member Romana
Tedjakusuma will miss the national selection tournament from Dec.
2 to Dec. 7 due to her inadequate ranking.
Wimar Witoelar, chairman of the Indonesian Tennis
Association's National Team Body, said yesterday that Romana,
once dubbed the second best player after Yayuk Basuki, dropped
outside the top 10 at the end of last month.
Only the 10 best senior and six junior players received direct
entry to the tournament. World number 33 Yayuk will be exempt
from the selection.
"Unfortunately, Romana was absent from competition for so long
she could not improve her ranking enough," he said.
Romana, who was last part of the Fed Cup team with Yayuk, Liza
Andriyani and Wynne Prakusya in July, missed the World Tennis
Association tour for the whole of last year due to commitments at
a Louisiana college.
Liza is 15th and Wynne 12th in the national rankings but
qualify for the tournament as junior players.
Wynne is still undergoing an overseas stint in the Czech
Republic while Liza is attending the Van der Meer camp in South
Carolina, U.S.A.
"I was afraid that their rankings would bar them from taking
part in the tournament," Wimar said. "I just hope that they won't
play in the same group."
Sixteen players of each sex will play round-robin matches
during the tournament, with the top eight named the national team
backbones for various international duties.
Wimar said that unlike its male counterpart, the Indonesian
women's team will comprise nine players due to Yayuk's automatic
membership of the elite group.
In the men's selection tournament, veteran Bonit Wiryawan
surprisingly tops the seeding list ahead of former national
number one Suwandi, winner of the preselection tournament last
week.
Bonit is one of the eight players joining the elite team,
which also includes Andrian Raturandang, Sebastian da Costa,
Sulistyo Wibowo, Suhendar Dinata, Djanuar Radjab, Febi Widhiyanto
and Samsudin Pare.
Their eight challengers seeking promotion are Suwandi,
Tjahjono, Edy Kusdaryanto, Donny Susetyo, Edo Bawono, Abdul Kahar
MIM, Yusmawan Fahmi and Jefri Trihandriansyah.
The draw will be conducted on Nov. 30 at the Ambhara hotel,
South Jakarta.
Former national player Tintus Arianto Wibowo praised the
tennis body for its unbiased staging of the tournament.
The Indonesian tennis body initiated the regular selection
tournaments last June to meet the needs of ready-for-use players
in international competition such as the Davis and Fed cups.
The four best players in the first selection tournament,
Bonit, Andrian, Sulistyo and Sebastian, passed their initial
major test when they beat Taiwan in September to keep Indonesia
in the Davis Cup Asia Oceania zone. (yan)