SEA Games tennis players share in Rp 150m bonus
SEA Games tennis players share in Rp 150m bonus
JAKARTA (JP): The national tennis team from the 20th Southeast
Asian (SEA) Games received a bonus of Rp 150 million (US$20,436)
from the Indonesia Tennis Association (Pelti) on Monday.
Indonesia won two of seven golds on offer in the recently
concluded biennial event in Brunei Darussalam. The golds came in
the women's doubles and women's team events. The duo of Wynne
Prakusya and Romana Tedjakusuma combined to win the doubles, and
joined teammates Liza Andriyani and Wukirasih Sawondari in taking
the team title. Wynne and Romana will each receive Rp 10 million,
while the team will divide another Rp 35 million.
The Indonesian's defeated the Philippines to win the team
gold, and Wynne and Romana beat compatriots Liza and Wukirasih in
the all-Indonesian doubles finals.
In the women's singles, Wynne was defeated by Filipino
Maricris Fernandez in the finals and had to settle for the
silver.
The national tennis players also won three silvers and five
bronzes in the men's doubles, mixed doubles, women's singles and
women's doubles.
The men's team of Suwandi, Febi Widhiyanto, Hendri Susilo
Pramono and Yusmawan Fahmi failed to overcome Thailand in the
finals and walked away from the SEA Games with a silver.
The head of the Indonesian tennis contingent to the SEA Games,
Martina Widjaja, said the physical conditioning of the Indonesian
players was weak due to time constraints on their training.
"We couldn't force them to work harder on their physical
condition, so we had to combine the technical and physical
training," she said.
Martina said Pelti must pay more attention to the training of
its athletes and provide them more competition to better groom
them in the future.
"In Southeast Asia, we have tight competition with the
neighboring countries of Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines.
We must be aware, especially for the development of our junior
players," she said.
Pelti chairman Tanri Abeng said Pelti must work harder to
improve the country's athlete-development system.
"Other countries have improved their athletes while we are
being left behind. We must work harder to be able to compete with
them and beat them," he said during the reopening of Pelti's
office, which was under renovation for three months.
Pelti treasurer A Qoyum Tjandranegara said Pelti would build a
10-room dormitory in the Kemayoran tennis center in Central
Jakarta as part of its effort to groom junior and national
players.
The project will cost nearly Rp 3 billion and will be financed
by PT Perusahaan Gas Negara, where Qoyum served as the director
of the state-owned company.
Earlier, coach Suharyadi said from the four women players,
only Wynne had the slightest chance to qualify for the Olympics.
"Wynne is ranked in the 190s in the world, but she still has
to fight harder to qualify for the Olympics because we face a
tough challenge from Asian countries, including China, South
Korea and Japan. We can't rely on the wild card entry because
Asia only gets one for the Olympics," he said.
Men's singles players Febi and Hendri departed on Monday
evening to compete in the German league to improve their world
rankings. (yan)