Tamarine leads world tennis stars to Bali

SURABAYA (JP): Tamarine Tanasugarn will head a pack of tennis players ranked in the world's top 100 to Bali as the Wismilak International women's tournament returns to Indonesia after a lapse of three years.

Event organizers announced here on Wednesday that apart from the Thai world number 31, Iroda Tulyaganova of Uzbekistan, Anne Kremer of Luxemburg and Shinobu Asagoe of Japan have confirmed their participation in the tournament, which is scheduled to take place from Sept. 22 to Sept. 30 and offers a total of US$170,000 in cash prizes

Also in the entry list are three Australian stars: Nicole Pratt, Rachel McQuillan and Alicia Molik.

Indonesia's 2001 Wimbledon junior champion Angelique Widjaya will lead the home side's team along with Wynne Prakusya (117), Romana Tedjakusuma (288), Dea Sumantri (558) and Wukirasih Sawondari (710).

Angelique, whose Wimbledon triumph has made her the third Asian player to score such an achievement in the prestigious British championships, has been granted a wildcard in the main draw, with the other likely given to Wynne.

Like Tamarine, Wynne, the country's number one player, is currently playing at the Canadian WTA Tour in Toronto. The two Asian players reached the second round at the $1.3 million tournament.

After Bali, the Wismilak tennis event will move to Surabaya. Organizers have yet to confirm the list of participants in the $110,000 tournament, which will be held from Oct. 27 to Nov. 4.

The Wismilak International Tournament was first held in 1994 and had been a yearly event on the WTA calendar in Surabaya. The organizers canceled the 1998 edition and moved the event to Kuala Lumpur in 1999 and 2000 due to political and security concerns. (nur/01)