Sounding out the opposition

Sounding out the opposition

JAKARTA (JP): Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan and Tamarine
Tanusagarn could be forgiven for mistaking the Senayan tennis
stadium for a lion's den yesterday.

Think tennis, and the hallowed Center Court at Wimbledon and
genteel crowds come to mind. But Indnesian fans turned the
definition on its ear as they ranted, screamed, beat drums and
shouted down a small and increasingly subdued group of Thai
spectators.

Things got so out of hand that play was stopped several times
in Parapan's match against Indonesian top seed Andrian
Raturandang.

Paradorn was able to shrug off the hecklers to win, but
Tamarine was not so lucky.

As the umpire's calls for quiet fell on resoundingly deaf
ears, the world's 37 ranked player seemed bent on beating a hasty
path far from the madding crowd. She lost in an excruciatingly
bad performance against Indonesian Wukirasih Sawondari. (brc)