Table tennis players to undergo training

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Table Tennis Association says it will select eight men and six women at the National Games next month to join its long-term national training program for international events.

Johny Waworuntu, the outgoing general secretary of the association, said yesterday that the program would last until the Southeast Asian Games here in October 1997.

Johny said that nine of the selected players would attend their first international at the Golden Racket Open Tournament in Vietnam in October, a major warm-up for the Asian Championships in Singapore in December.

"We accepted Vietnam's invitation, because we know that they are one of the most dangerous contenders for the gold medals at the next Southeast Asian Games," he said.

Johny said Indonesia is seeking better Asian results, instead of resting on the SEA Games' laurels that it has enjoyed over the past two decades.

Top Asian table tennis players, especially from China, Japan and South Korea, are the best in the world.

Johny said that after the Vietnamese competition, all the national trainees would go overseas, possibly to China, in November and December before the Asian Championships.

In China, the Indonesian players will compete against locals in Beijing, Shanghai, Canton and other cities.

The national players will rest for two weeks after the Asian Championships before resuming their program in January, Johny said.

A European tour scheduled between February and April, possibly to Belgium, has also been arranged for the Indonesian team in preparation for the World Championships in Manchester, England, next April.

"We need a different trial because we want our players to get used to the Europeans," Johny said. (yan)