Suwandi, Febi clear first selection hurdle

Suwandi, Febi clear first selection hurdle

JAKARTA (JP): Men's singles Suwandi and Febi Widhiyanto posted
two victories each in the first day of the national tennis
selection for the 20th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Brunei in
August.

Suwandi defeated Suhendar Dinata 6-2, 6-2 and Edy Kusdaryanto
6-2, 6-3, while Febi bested Yusmawan Fahmi 6-2, 6-3 and Sebastian
Da Costa 6-1, 6-2 during Wednesday's matches.

Both Suwandi and Febi were members of the Davis Cup team which
played against Qatar and the Philippines earlier this year.

Another Davis Cup member, Edy, beat Da Costa earlier in the
day 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), while his Davis Cup teammate Hendri
Susilo Pramono lost to Yusmawan 3-6, 3-6.

Seven players -- Suwandi, Febi, Edy, Hendri, Yusmawan,
Sebastian and Suhendar -- are taking part in the national
selection from Wednesday to Saturday.

From these seven, four players will be selected to compete in
the SEA Games from Aug. 7 to Aug. 15.

Hendry's coach Deddy Prasetyo was shocked by his athlete's
poor performance.

"I never expected him to lose. I was shocked," he said. "Maybe
he was still suffering from jet lag after returning from
Tennessee last week, but neither Febi or Suwandi showed any signs
of it."

Suwandi, Febi and Hendri spent two weeks at Bill Tym's tennis
camp in Nashville, Tennessee, working on various aspects of their
games, including their match strategy.

"Tym said that a player must have a strategy when he enters
the court. We must work harder on strategy," Deddy said.

Despite his two victories, Suwandi remained cautious. "I still
have a long way to go to qualify for the team because I still
have to play four more matches," he said.

Indonesian Tennis Association (Pelti) deputy secretary-general
Benny Mailili said for the national selection the organization
was using a new system to determine the matchups. Now, the
organization conducts a draw to determine matchups.

"It's a new system to make the competition fairer by not
allowing athletes to pick their opponents. Like it or not, they
must be prepared when they enter the court," he said.

Benny also said Pelti would give the players a Rp 1 million
(US$145) performance fee for taking part in the selection.

"Let's say it's for their transportation. We'll also give the
same amount to the women's players during their selection," he
said.

The women's selection is scheduled to take place from July 1
to July 3.

Deddy said the selection was only a warm-up for the Indonesian
Future 3 and 4 tournaments from June 28 to July 11 at the
Kemayoran Tennis Center. (yan)